This post was updated to include the number of property theft incidents recorded by APD.

The Arkadelphia Police Department made fewer DWI arrests in 2022 than they did the previous year.

The agency made eight DWI arrests last year compared to 24 made in 2021.

Public intoxication was also down, with 29 arrests made; 32 were made in 2021. There were four arrests made for alcohol possession in 2022; 10 were made in 2021.

The department made 22 drug possession arrests last year, compared to 26 in 2021. Violence also appears to be decreasing, as officers made 15 arrests last year compared to 28 in 2021.

Theft of property did see an increase, as the department recorded 44 property theft reports, an increase of 8 from the previous year.

The department wrote 934 incident reports in 2022, down from 902 in 2021.

Officers also appear to be patrolling heavier, as the department drove a combined total of 210,325 miles in 2022 — 18,688 miles more than in 2021.

The city’s code enforcement office opened 385 cases in 2022, with 304 cases closed satisfactorily. In 88 of those cases, the city took action to correct the infractions at a total cost of $7,320.

The department’s criminal investigation division opened 90 felony cases last year. The sex crimes investigator opened an additional 36 cases that occurred within the city; of those, 21 were presented to the prosecutor’s office, 13 were referred to the Department of Human Services or other centers, and three remain under investigation.

Drugs in Arkadelphia

Looking more closely at drug enforcement, the department has one agent assigned to the Group 6 Narcotics Enforcement Unit, which operates in three counties.

That agency opened 286 cases, with 126 of them in Clark County. Collectively, authorities seized 24.5 pounds of methamphetamine, 37 pounds of cocaine, 30 pounds of marijuana, 827 prescription pills, 222 marijuana plants, 19.4 grams of crack cocaine, 4,106 doses of MDMA/ecstasy, and 5 grams of fentanyl. Additionally, 45 weapons and $64,344 in cash were confiscated during 2022.

APD public relations

The Arkadelphia Police Department and Arkadelphia Public Schools paired up in 2022 to add a third school resource officer to patrol the district’s four campuses. Arkadelphia High School and Goza Middle School each have their own dedicated officer, and Peake Elementary School and Perritt Primary School share an officer. Once the new Peake is built, all students in grades K-4 will merge into one campus.

In addition to the school resource officers’ daily interactions with students and teachers, patrolmen conduct daily walk-throughs, an activity that’s been dubbed “Cop Walk” and one that yielded a Trendsetter Award from the Arkansas Municipal League.

Information was gathered from the City of Arkadelphia’s 2022 finance and administration activity report.