Serious crime was down in Dover last year, and the city’s safety director thinks a more visible police force might deserve credit.
Safety Director Bob Everett says there were far fewer felony arrests in 2024 – with 63 – than in 2023, when there were over 100. At the same time, misdemeanor arrests were down about 100 to 206. Officers were on the roads more, putting about 10-thousand more miles on their cruisers in 2024.
Everett says the police department has been short-staffed at times over the past couple of years, but they have a couple of promising candidates going through police academy training. The city has also loosened hiring restrictions, including raising the age limit from 35 to 50. And the city offers more incentives for potential officers, including reimbursement for academy training.
Other stats in the police department year-end report include traffic accidents. Police responded to 316 of them in 2024, which Everett says is up by about 100 from the previous year. There were about the same number of accidents with injuries, with 39 of them in 2024.
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