CANTON The jail population is down and some law enforcement agencies are getting fewer calls from people asking for help.
“Yes, I think it’s due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Stark County Sheriff George Maier.
North Canton Police Chief Frank Kemp Jr. also attributed the reduction to fewer people being out, and to how his officers are addressing the situation.
Jackson Township Police Chief Mark Brink said calls to his department are down, although he could not say exactly by how much since the coronavirus pandemic closures have only been happening for about a week now. “Schools and some businesses are closed, the bars are closed ... Traffic is just way down altogether, so we’re having fewer accidents,” Brink said.
“We’ll have to wait and see how people react to it once they’ve been together in the same house for period of time. But as of right now, our numbers are down.”
Jail space
With a capacity of 526 prisoners, the jail listed 353 inmates on Friday, said Maier.
“It’s not been this low since I’ve been sheriff,” he said, noting that he became sheriff about seven years ago.
The number is expected to drop more.
“We’ve been working very closely with the courts and identifying what (offenses) are high visibility and what crimes can be home arrests and that type of thing,” Maier said.
Maier said the decrease in traffic resulting from school, restaurant and store closures has a lot of people staying home.
“We still have people stealing cars and breaking into places. But I think more people at home, so we are having fewer home burglaries and that type of thing. Neighbors are watching out for each other,” he said.
Other law enforcement agencies say they haven’t seen quite the drop in calls for service.
“At this point, our calls for service have appeared to stay pretty steady. We haven’t seen a major increase, we haven’t seen a major decrease. We will continue to evaluate it on a regular basis,” said Lt. Dennis Garren, Canton Police spokesman.
Massillon Police Chief Keith Moser hasn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. “It’s business as usual here,” he said.
But in North Canton, social distancing and measures officers are taking to keep themselves and the public safe have contributed to the reduction, Kemp said.
Officers who would need extra time to address a minor traffic violation are giving verbal warnings instead of written ones, and they are addressing calls involving “non-active, non-violent situations” over the phone instead of in-person, the chief said.
They’re also cognizant that going from an incident at one home to another could spread sickness, so they’re trying to avoid doing that, he said.
He is seeing is people leaving their homes to spend time outdoors, often with one another, not large groups.
“I saw a neighbor take the opportunity to play basketball with his grandson. I saw a father walking with his two children. In an age where people are picking up cellphones, people are getting out and doing things together, and in a safe manner,” Kemp said.
