The crime rate in Oxford has dropped by double digits since January.
That was the headline from remarks given by Oxford Police Chief Bill Partridge during the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of Law Enforcement Forum held Thursday, May 30.
During the forum, Partridge joined Sheriff Matthew Wade and the county’s other chiefs of police to give an overview of each department’s work.
“We have continued to see decreases in crime in the city of Oxford over the past year,” Partridge said. “It was by single digits last year, and I’m glad to say we have seen a reduction of double digits in violent crime in the city since January. I contribute that to all our law enforcement partners working together.”
He said the East Metro Area Crime Center has assisted in over 1,400 cases with 34 different agencies within the past year.“We are going to be adding a system that takes shell casings and treats them like fingerprints,” Partridge said. “That will help us solve gun crimes faster.”
Partridge said a previous use of the system marked a gun as being used in a crime in Fulton County, Georgia. “We were able to contact them, and they picked up the identified individual who eventually confessed to a murder,” he said. “That really set us on fire about how these guns aren’t just used here, but across the country, and this system will help us link what has been fired in our region with other areas of the state.”
He thanked the offices of U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt for helping with the acquisition of the new system.
“We have had a very good year and a very active year, and we continue to reach out to our partners to help them solve crimes faster and, hopefully, prevent those crimes,” Partridge said.
Partridge said the OPD is preparing to introduce a new app citizens can download to their phones, making communications between the public and the department easier.
“This is just an extra step to get information out so you understand what we do and how we can help and serve you better,” he said.
He said he was disappointed in the last session of the state legislature, noting “it wasn’t good for law enforcement.” Partridge said that, as chairman of the state police chief association’s legislative committee, he has urged lawmakers to “make life easier for law enforcement.”
“They can’t go out here and make laws that make our day-to-day operations more difficult to be able to go out and protect our citizens,” Partridge said.
He singled out state Sen. Keith Kelley and state Rep. Randy Wood for their efforts to help law enforcement during the last session of the state legislature.
All the law enforcement leaders said they continuously work in concert with each other when the needs arise. Wade singled out the city of Oxford and its departments for their assistance during the recent rodeo the sheriff’s office sponsored at Choccolocco Park.
“It was a lot of fun and helped the community to see we in law enforcement are humans with families just like them,” Wade said. “I can’t thank the city of Oxford enough. They were wonderful - Chief Partridge, the fire department, the city council, parks and recreation. Choccolocco Park is a wonderful place.”
