Arrests, reports, and calls for service all saw an increase in the City of Peekskill in 2024, compared to the prior year.
Chief of Police Leo Dylewski described the trends at the May 5 Common Council meeting, and presented an overview of the police department’s 2024 operations and goals.
There were 41,162 calls for service in the City of Peekskill in 2024, a 6.8 percent increase from 2023. Calls for service include officers dispatched to requests for police, fire, or EMS personnel, as well as officer-initiated observations when an arrest is made.
There were 12,643 reports, defined as when officers have to write a narrative and a case or crime is investigated. That volume was a 6.79 percent increase over 2023. Reports include officer-initiated, proactive inspections of certain areas that the department lists as “special checks,” Dylewski told the Peekskill Herald.
The total major crime index in 2024 was 312 compared to the prior year’s 298, mostly due to an uptick in burglaries. During 2024, there were two murders (the same number as 2023), four rapes (two in 2023), seven robberies (10 in 2023), 46 aggravated assaults (53 in 2023), 23 burglaries (11 in 2023), 216 larcenies (212 in 2023), and 12 motor vehicle thefts (10 in 2023).
There were 1,632 arrests in 2024, 17.5 percent more than 2023, which Dylewski partially attributed to an increase in Driving While Intoxicated enforcement, traffic violation enforcement, and quality-of-life issues addressed by the department.
Dylewski also said the department is doing more proactive policing in response to community outreach, such as at 901 Main Street, where tenants have had crime and drug concerns. Residents communicating issues in their neighborhoods has also helped the department to conduct operations with outside agencies like the FBI, he said.
He added that in response to community quality-of-life concerns, the department issued 4,135 traffic tickets for moving violations (about 23.4 percent more than 2023) and 21,594 parking tickets (about 31 percent more than 2023).
Dylewski said the department met several of its goals and objectives for 2024, including filling a detective position, purchasing four new vehicles,and adding a parking enforcement officer. It did not reach its goal of fully staffing the department with 62 personnel, but did increase its size to the current 56 from 53 in 2024.
Of the 56 staff, 1 lieutenant is injured, 1 sergeant injured, 1 detective injured, 1 police officer on maternity duty and another injured. Dylewski said they are waiting for the injured lieutenant, sergeant, and detective to retire, noting that delays in retirement processing stem from the state’s retirement system.
One setback the department faced was the loss of anticipated federal funding for renovations. The project seeks to transform the department’s old archives room into a new men’s and women’s locker room and renovate old locker areas into needed office space. Dylewski said the department is hopeful it’ll be able to find ways to continue the funding.
City inventory project taps into counting street trees
The City of Peekskill is undertaking a street tree inventory and management project with the Peekskill Conservation Advisory Council.
At the May 5 Common Council, Sarah Lilley, an urban forestry consultant with the Eocene Environmental Group, provided insight into how her group is assisting the city implement tree inventory software known as Geographic Information System mapping.
About 7,000 trees are to be looked at for the project, which is funded by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s Urban and Community Forestry grant program.
The inventory includes urban trees along city roads, right-of-ways, selected parks, and public facilities. It does not include trees in forests. Trees will be examined for their species, size, and conditions.
“Trees are living organisms,” Lilley said. “They’re like you and me. They get older, they get sick, they get damaged, they do die, and they need to be removed and replaced.”
The group will make recommendations for what should be done with the trees and examine which areas of Peekskill could get the most benefit from more trees being planted. She noted trees help to intercept storm water and pollutants, cool cities, and create oxygen for everybody.
According to Lilley, a couple of inventory arborists will join her later in May and perform the bulk of the data collection into July, and later present their findings. She added they hope to have a community tree walk in September. They anticipate delivering a draft plan in October and wrapping up everything in December.
Councilman Robert Scott commended the presentation and inventory efforts.
“I always find it interesting when we take a modern approach to something ancient,” Scott said. “These organisms have been here before for all of us. And so whenever you have initiatives that are looking to be good stewards of the planet, it’s always a good thing.”
