(Photo by Reilly Dixon)
YS Police Chief Burge breaks down 2024 stats
- Published: March 5, 2025
At the Village Council meeting Tuesday, Feb. 18, Yellow Springs Police Chief Paige Burge delivered her 2024 Annual Report.
The yearly state-of-the-department presentation included aspirational three-year goals for the local police force, data on last year’s 911 calls, department awards, funding initiatives, community survey results and general incident statistics.
“This annual report is always a time for us to reflect on our accomplishments and to definitely acknowledge our opportunities,” Burge told Council members. “Looking back on the last year, it’s been one of a lot of successes.”
As Burge’s report indicated, it was also a year of challenges — namely in staff recruitment and retention of department personnel.
Currently, the police department is staffed by 15 individuals: Chief Burge, five dispatchers, a sergeant, a community outreach specialist, a property room manager, a corporal and five patrol officers.
The number of staffers is down from last spring, when the News reported that, at 19 employees, the local police department was fully staffed for the first time in five years.
Looking ahead, at least in the report’s vision statement, the department aims to prioritize recruitment, recognition and retention, thus “creating culturally fluent team members who respond more empathetically, deliver higher quality services and contribute to overall community wellness.”
Of the Village’s allocated $1.94 million budget for public safety in 2024, the department’s actual expenses for the year came to $1,730,806, the report notes. YSPD’s budget for 2025 is $2,044,258 — the highest the police department has had at their disposal, and an amount totaling 39% of the Village’s 2025 general fund.
2024 at a glance—
• Dispatchers received and placed 25,569 calls, including both nonemergency and 911 calls. That’s an average of 70 calls per day.
• The police responded to 16,074 incidents. Highest among those incidents were extra patrols, house checks, assists and instances of community policing. Other notable incidents included 113 animal complaints, 43 instances of criminal damaging, 304 parking violations, 74 juvenile complaints, four dead bodies, 546 traffic stops and 67 thefts. Incidents tended to occur at the highest frequency between 8 and 9 p.m.
• Police made 106 arrests.
• Eighty-four major crimes were reported — including sex offenses, robberies, felonious assaults, burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts. This was down from 2023 when 96 major crimes were reported, but up from 2022 with 66.
• Of the 500-plus traffic stops, the highest demographic stopped were white adult males at 238, followed by 177 white adult females and 54 Black adult males. Of the stops, 424 stops were non-Yellow Springs residents.
• Between all department staffers, 923.5 hours of training were received, which includes mandated training by the state, federal government and organizations.
• 130 pieces of property were booked — “Pretty average for a year,” Burge told Council.
• Interdepartmental awards include two exemplary leadership commendations for officer Andrew Bluma and dispatcher Daysi Cusick, a human relations commendation for officer Alex Croasmun, civilian of the year for Community Outreach Specialist Florence Randolph, a distinguished service award for dispatcher Stacie Raynor and medal of valor as well as officer of the year for Corporal Joshua Varble.
• Notable funding initiatives — some of which are ongoing or are still being sought — included a $9,135 grant for new body armor and vests for officers, a $4,914 grant for body-worn cameras and a $34,000 grant for improved cybersecurity infrastructure within the department.
“So, we do a lot,” Chief Burge concluded at the end of her presentation to Council.
She continued: “It’s not uncommon to hear that we have such a large department — ‘Why do we need this many supervisors?’ — Well, this is a picture that shows all the responsibilities we’re required to do … our day-to-day workload.”
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