The number of crimes reported in Hutchinson dipped by 13.1 percent from 2006 to 2007, and arrests were off 7 percent, Police Chief Dan Hatten told the City Council last week.

According to Hatten’s annual report, arrests for felonies, gross misdemeanors and misdemeanors are declined in 2007, but reports of serious crimes did increase in some categories, including forcible rape, robbery, burglaries, vehicle theft and controlled substance crimes. Overall arrests in 2007 were down almost 20 percent from 2005.

Reports of “other assaults” declined, as did forgery, criminal sexual conduct, family offenses, theft and vehicular crimes. The biggest drop, 45.2 percent, came in reports of criminal damage to property.

Mirroring the decline in reported crimes was a 4.2-percent decrease in the number of calls handled by Hatten’s dispatching team. The growth in calls for service has generally tracked at a slower rate than it did for much of the 1990s and the first few years of this decade even as the city’s population continues to grow.

The complete 2007 Hutchinson Police Services report is available at the city’s Web site: www.ci.hutchinson.mn.us/police.htm. Click on “annual report.”

Read more in the May 20 Leader.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)