Seven thousand, four hundred and twenty-six. And, that’s lower than last year.

That number – 7,426 – represents the number of calls for service reported by the Bluffton Police Department from October 2018 through October 2019. That's over 20 calls in a 24-hour day.

Ryan Burkholder, police chief, updated Bluffton council members on the police department’s activities in 2019 at Monday’s council meeting, providing several stats and comments. 

Attached to this story is the complete report to council from Chief Burkholder - 

A breakdown of those calls follow, with the previous year in parentheses:
7,426 calls for service (7,516) – decrease of 90
256 offense reports generated (335) – decrease of 79
271 traffic citations issued in the village (394) – decrease of 123

Major department cases 
Lt. Oglesbee – Armed robbery 
Lt. Oglesbee – Murder case stemmed from Bluffton, but located in Lima in a pond
Lt. Oglesbee- Human and sex trafficking case
Sgt. Hochstetler and Kato and Dominic Francis – Major marijuana seizure from a traffic stop 
Sgt. Hochstetler and Kato and Dominic Francis – Major drug seizure from a traffic stop meth, cocaine, LSD, heroin and marijuana