The crime rate is still high in Junction City, but since August 1st it has gone down considerably.

Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci said that there are a number of factors contributing to that.

“There was a 41% increase through June in our crime rate, but as of August 1st it’s dropped to 24%; so if you could correlate that between some soldiers leaving in the last month, you might make a correlation – but I wouldn’t,” said Breci. “It fluctuates – one person could go out and commit 50 burglaries, break-ins to cars, shoot out windows – something bad, and that can really spike the numbers.”

Breci was a guest on ‘JC Now’ Friday morning on 1420 AM – The Talk of JC where he discussed the crime rate, and the numbers that he calls “staggering”.

“The numbers that are always really surprising to me is about the number of arrests; you know, through July or August 1, we’ve arrested 1221 adults and 174 juveniles, and that’s up about 18% from last year…to me for our small community, to me that’s pretty staggering,” said Breci.

Breci said there has been criticism of the JCPD and that “if you look at the numbers of the people we arrest, I think we are very effective at doing our job.”

Breci said that the public doesn’t worry about dogs barking or someone speeding, they want to know they are safe and their families are safe.

“Do we go catch those bad guys – that’s how we’re judged,” said Breci.