The Wheeling Police Department released its annual crime statistics for 2023 today. Most major crime categories and overall calls for services declined last year. However, drug overdoses and overdose-related deaths increased after seeing a reduction for the last several years.

Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said the overall decrease in several crime categories is a positive for the city of Wheeling. “We are on a good downward trend in many aspects when talking about serious crimes. Wheeling is a safe city and that will continue under the watchful eye of the many hard-working police officers of this department.”

Specific crime data is categorized into two main categories by the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) – “Group A” offenses, which are more property crimes and crimes against persons, and “Group B” offenses, which involve more nuisance, quality of life and highway safety/traffic offenses.

After seeing a rise in several “Group A” offenses in 2022, most went down in 2023 – including burglary, vandalism, drug offenses, motor vehicle theft and robbery. Categories of note that increased last year were assaults (7%) and fraud cases (12%). Arrests slightly decreased and “Group B” offenses were mostly unchanged from the prior year, with a slight increase of 2%.

Total calls for service were down 6%. The overall number – 21,743 is more in line with an ‘average year’ after a rare increase in 2022. The reduction also is associated with continued efforts on officer-initiated activity, nightly foot patrols, community policing and multiple selective enforcement operations.

“We were successful after seeing increases in 2022 by bringing several crime categories down to more reasonable numbers,” Chief Schwertfeger said. “We continue to experience several challenges like staffing, recidivism, and other causes that drive up specific issues in the city like property crimes. At the end of the day, most crime-related issues are driven by illegal drug usage.” 

When looking at drug overdoses, cases rose for the first time in several years. Overall overdoses went up by 11% with a yearly total of 182. A total of 26 overdose-related deaths were reported in 2023 after a major decline the prior year. The deaths are unfortunately related to the continued enhanced uses of fentanyl mixed with other types of opioids and newer drugs being used like xylazine (a.k.a. ‘Tranq’).

Over the next year, the Chief said he hopes crime continues its downward trend and wants to enhance a focus on mental health. “We have seen many successes with our partners and approach to overdose and mobile crisis response. We will continue to do that and are looking to bring a full-time peer support specialist on board within the Wheeling Police Department to enhance current efforts. We also will continue to focus significant efforts into our geographic and problem-oriented policing approach related to illegal use and trafficking of narcotics.” 

• Group A (more serious crimes) DECREASED 6%

Categories that decreased from the previous year:

• Burglary (Down 17%)                  2023 Total: 164      2022 Total: 197
• Drug Offenses (Down 24%)          2023 Total: 341      2022 Total: 451
• Motor Vehicle Theft (Down 17%)   2023 Total: 38        2022 Total: 46
• Robbery (Down 25%)                   2023 Total: 12        2022 Total: 16
• Vandalism (Down 6%)                  2023 Total: 165      2022 Total: 176     

Categories that increased from the previous year:

• Assaults (Up 7%)                        2023 Total: 590      2022 Total: 551
• Fraud (Up 12%)                          2023 Total: 96        2022 Total: 86

Categories mostly unchanged from the previous year include larceny/thefts, sex-related crimes, and weapon-related offenses.       

• Group B (less serious crimes) INCREASED 2%

• Traffic Enforcement

With no major winter weather activity or severe weather incidents, overall crashes decreased slightly by 3.5% in 2023. Citations were up by 25% because of more checkpoints and a larger departmental focus on highway safety. The increased number of citations also contributes to lower crashes.

• Drug Overdoses INCREASED 11%     Overdose Deaths INCREASED 136%

Drug-related overdoses increased slightly after a three-year downward trend. This is due to enhanced uses of fentanyl and newer drugs being introduced into the area, like xylazine (a.k.a. “Tranq”). Drug overdose deaths also increased significantly after a drastic decline the prior year. Drug overdoses reflect on various types of illegal narcotics, and not just one certain type of drug.