The Jefferson Police Department recently released its 2014 service call statistics.

Police Chief Dave Morlan says his officers responded to the most calls in the history of their department in 2014 with 3,154 calls which was an increase from 2013 with 2,958 calls.

Each major category also had an increase in calls in 2014.  54% of the calls were for public service, which were 1,696 compared to 2013’s 53% for a total of 1,564. Once again, the most incidents for public service were animal-related with 424 calls.

Criminal calls totaled 35% for the department.  The number of those calls were also up in 2014 to 1,108 from 2013 of 1,047.  Theft and harassment were the most prevalent calls at 180 and 170 respectively.  There were 64 burglary, 79 criminal mischief and 28 OWI’s.

Traffic calls made up 11% of the total calls with 350 which is slightly up from 2013 with 347.

Another highlight was when a security company named Jefferson the “Safest City to Live in Iowa.”  Chief Morlan believes the designation is a nice compliment for the job that his officers do.

“I think it reflects on the community itself.  We live in a small town, a close-knit town and I think Jefferson, Iowa is just a good place to live and I think the department serves the community well.”

He adds that he’s happy with the way his officers responded to every call last year and how they conducted themselves professionally in every situation.