OCEAN CITY – Police activity remained consistent throughout the month of February.
On Monday, Ocean City Police Chief Ross Buzzuro presented members of the Ocean City Police Commission with an update on police activity for the month of February.
Reviewing statistics from February of 2021, 2022 and 2023, Buzzuro noted that officer calls for service increased from 1,178 in 2021 and 1,141 in 2022 to 1,201 in 2023.
Citizen calls for service increased from 450 in 2021 and 429 in 2022 to 455 in 2023.
“We are right in line with where we were last year,” he said.
In the top 25 calls for service, the Ocean City Police Department reported citizen assists decreased from 110 in 2022 to 84 in 2023, disorderly calls decreased from 33 to 22 and traffic stops increased from 565 to 671.
“There’s nothing extremely glaring,” Buzzuro said. “There’s a slight variance, a slight uptick, but nothing of true concern.”
The activity report also shows EMS assists increased from 32 to 51, while other police agency assists decreased from 61 to 39.
“Within the top 25 calls for service, a number of those were assisting agencies and were fairly consistent with where we were last year,” Buzzuro said.
Under February enforcement, custodial arrests decreased from 89 in 2022 to 76 in 2023, while drug arrests decreased from seven to four and DUI arrests increased from 19 to 21.
Weapons arrests increased slightly from nine to 10. The department reported one firearm, seven knives and four other weapons.
“It’s fairly consistent with where we were last year in February,” Buzzuro told the commission.
Buzzuro this week also presented officials with the Ocean City Police Department’s annual report for 2022.
“It’s a really, really good report,” he said. “There’s a lot of good information and statistics, a lot of good highlights certainly touting our efforts.”
Presented each year to the Mayor and Council, the report not only reports crime figures, but information on community events and activities within each police division.
“I’m proud to report we did lower crime in 2022 in relation to the several years before that,” he said. “We’re getting back down to levels we saw pre-COVID … when we had record-low crime.”
Buzzuro said the annual report would be shared with the full Mayor and Council this month.
“I’m very proud of our accomplishments in 2022,” he said.
