As 2017 draws to a close, the Green Bay Police Department is looking back.
"We have a lot to be thankful for here in green bay, and one of the things we have to be thankful for is a tremendous crime reduction that we're seeing in the city of Green Bay," police chief Andrew Smith said.
Overall crime is projected to drop 8-percent compared to a year ago. Officers are pointing to a few crimes as indicators of a successful year. Police say there hasn't been a single reported homicide in 2017. That would be the first year without a homicide since 1981. Police say that decrease means fewer victims in the city.
"I have young children, and i want to raise my young children in an environment like Green Bay where i can feel safe with them playing in the yard, where i don't have to worry about them being victims of a drive by shooting, or one of these other heinous crimes," Smith said.
Officers say the city had one OWI death in 2017, and none in the last 10 months of 2016.
"I credit not only our enforcement actions here but we have a generation today more than ever before that has been more educated, more aware, of the owi problem than ever before," officer Mike Knetzger said.
Police do acknowledge, it could be a challenge to keep numbers this low. A number of experienced officers are set to leave the department.
"There's probably a couple hundred years of police experience that are going out the door," Smith said. There's community connections that these officers have made."
Smith says it will be up to officers remaining..to bring new hires up to the department's standards.
