More police on South Bend streets may be affecting gun violence statistics

SOUTH BEND — City leaders believe more officers on the streets and directed enforcement efforts could be driving a decrease in gun violence incidents so far this year compared to 2022.

The trends were discussed Thursday by Mayor James Mueller and South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski at a quarterly media briefing on city crime statistics.

Fully staffed: South Bend police department welcomes historic 16 new hires, largest group ever sworn in

So far in 2023, there have been 533 gun violence incidents, which is down from 617 incidents in the same period in 2022.

Moreover, there have been 50 criminally assaulted shooting victims so far this year. In the same period in 2022, there had been 89.

More officers, more deterrence

Operations Division Chief Dan Skibins said there currently are 244 sworn police officers on the South Bend force, with six more in the Law Enforcement Training Academy. With retirements coming up and other factors, he said, the police force could be at 248 by the end of the year.

Moreover, the police department has asked the mayor's office to consider increasing the police force to 252 for the 2024 budget, a figure, Ruszkowski said, that FBI analytics call for in the staffing for a city of South Bend's size.

Mueller said the more officers that are out on the streets and in the detective bureaus, the better the deterrence of such crimes as gun violence and other incidents.

"I think that it's no coincidence that we are fully staffed for the first time in a number of years," Mueller said, "and crime today is lower than it has been in a number of years."

'Backfilling' the police force

Skibins recalled that in 2020-2022, the force averaged 215 to 220 officers, which caused the department to downsize the detective bureau, the strategic focus units and other areas. "We were at minimum staffing on shifts, to include supervision on those shifts," he said.

As this year began with an influx of new officers, Skibins said, the department began "backfilling" the supervisory and patrol division openings, which has meant more officers in more positions to go on calls and enforce traffic rules.

And the police force is making plans to establish Community Resource Officers (CFOs), sworn officers that will attend community meetings, handle issues, and work with patrol and other enforcement units within the department.

During the second quarter of 2023, the daily average traffic stops performed by South Bend police officers increased 40.5%, from 23.2 stops per day to 32.6. Some 2,966 traffic stops were done in the second quarter of 2023, up from only 2,101 for the first three months of the year.

Deterring speeding: South Bend to install 94 speed humps in $1.75 million traffic calming effort

Ruszkowski said that more officers in the department has served as a deterrent to crime in the city, because more officers are available to conduct traffic stops and the hiring of more officers is replenishing the ranks in areas that were trimmed back when the department suffered from decreased numbers four years ago.

"When you have more, there's more visibility there," he said. "That's more of a deterrence factor. … We're there to keep the bullies out of the playgrounds. Everybody's welcome to play, but you can't be a bully when you do it. That, literally, is what we're trying to do. And I think that has a profound effect."

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend gun violence stats dropping as police force adds to its ranks