The Cambridge Police Department saw a decrease in activity in 2020 due in large part to Covid.
Cambridge Police Chief Todd Schuster gave an annual report at the last Cambridge city council meeting and explained how numbers were down in many categories. The city saw a 55% drop in adult arrests, a 52% fall in traffic stops . The only category that saw a increase were DWIs which saw an increase of 6 cases.
While the numbers show a decrease in activity, safety protocols were taken to ensure everyone's safety with Covid.
"We had to almost immediately change the way we typically did things to minimize exposure to the officers and the public so that we could all stay healthy." said Chief Schuster to city council. The changes included handling calls for service over the phone and reducing the number of traffic stops by focusing on the more egregious violations.
Chief Schuster explained how staffing was also an issue for the department last year with Covid cases, losing a full time officer and time-off demands. The department is hopefully that 2021 will be different, with a new officer now and looking to add another sometime in March.
