2017 was an eventful year for the Perry Police Department, and Chief Eric Vaughn says he’s proud of the work his officers did in some difficult situations.

Many of the difficulties arose from the department’s lower-than-ideal numbers. Vaughn says they spent much of the year two officers short, which led to many long shifts. However, the department will be up to full staff in April once their newest officer completes his training at the Law Enforcement Academy. In addition to personnel issues, Vaughn says his officers have also had to cope with an emotionally-draining case since May, but feels they once again handled it admirably.

“We had some big cases, with the death of Sabrina Ray and some of the arrests that we had. That was definitely the major case that we undertook this year. (We) spent a lot of time, not only our department, but with assistance from the DCI and other agencies around the area to help us clear that case. That would be kind of the high and the low at the same time. Great job that the officers did, but a really tragic situation that we had to deal with. I think the officers are coping well with that situation.”

All total in 2017, the police department responded to over 10,000 calls for service, which includes everything from car accidents to stray animals, or from domestic violence to keys locked in cars. Vaughn says the call numbers were fairly average this year, but they did find their arrest numbers were lower than normal. He attributes that largely to the staffing issues.

To hear more from Vaughn, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.