Sheriff’s Office Releases Year In Review Stats

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The year is drawing to a close; with only 12
days left in 2019. The Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office is looking
back upon local statistics collected over the course of the year as
2020 approaches. There were over 9,000 reported squad and fire runs
in the county and over 40,000 calls handled by the Sheriff’s
Office. Sheriff Matt Lutz says the top reason for traffic citations
in 2019 was driving under suspension.

“Our traffic
crashes went from 274 up to 316; so we did have an increase in
traffic accidents. Our citations—including our warnings—kind of
gives us a barometer of where we’re at and you know, we have the
total ‘18 stats. Which was 3,790—almost 38 hundred—and right
now, we’re at 3,067.”

The number of major
incidents for the year saw a decline from 2018, which the Sheriff
attributes to the proactive efforts of officers.

“You think back
over the years of major incidents that we’ve had; and I’m not
sure that we’ve had any of that this year. And, you look at our
detective bureau—things appear to be down a bit from the calls that
we’re getting. But you know, I could construe that with stats that
say our guys are being more proactive, we’re more visible, and
we’re trying to be out there doing more proactive things.”

Additional
statistics from the Sheriff’s Office show that there are currently
149 active sex offenders in the county and there were 324 total
arrests made over the course of the year.