By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper is looking at the numbers for 2020 for Hutchinson and he believes he may see some trends.
"We have been up slightly with our calls related to mental health and people in mental health crisis," Hooper said. "Here of late in the last couple of months overdoses have been up and we've seen an influx of mostly heroin into our community. That was kind of new coming in to our community this year. It's really hard to make a direct comparison, is that because of COVID and, you know, are those mental health related calls because of the increased stress and pressures?"
Hooper said he doesn't know if they'll ever be able to make a one to one connection.
"Looking at the trend line through 2020 compared to 2019, it would appear that we have a little bit bigger problem with substance abuse related calls," Hooper said. "Even if you just look at the number of overdoses, they're up around the country. Overdose related deaths are up around the country. Obviously, Hutchinson appears to be trending in that direction."
Despite that, the crime statistics for the community appear to be holding steady.
"It would lead me to believe that there's maybe just a few more people, maybe related to stress or unemployment that are misusing drugs in our community," Hooper said. "Maybe not committing crimes, but misusing drugs and that's leading to the medical calls that we're seeing."
Hooper is looking forward to 2021, when funding has been allocated for a crisis response team in the community.