Middletown with its own municipal court and city jail is growing especially in the East End with hospitals, construction of the $200 million Renaissance Pointe event center, housing developments and redevelopment of the Towne Mall.
That means, the division of police is addressing the way it does “business” to get more officers on the street where they are needed most. Beat plans, meaning areas of the city where officers are assigned to patrol during a shift, have been realigned making sure areas east and west of Interstate 75 have daily patrols.
The department has 78 sworn officers, but council approved funding to employ 88 officers in 2025. When those officers are hired and trained — some are in field training now — the beat realignment that added two beats and shrinks others will be implemented.
“Policing this year is going to be more proactive, I know it is going to upset some people, but we need to change the narrative,” Nelson said. “We live in a safe city and we need to let everyone know that.”
Additional training of corrections officer working the jail will allow them to accompany prisoners to the hospital or transporting prisoners to other Butler County courts and facilities.
“We will not have to pull a beat officer off the street,” Nelson said. “That will keep officers on the street.”
The police chief said the additional officers and increased visibility are key to prevention and solving crimes
One of the biggest complaints council members and police staff get from citizens is lack of traffic enforcement. That too will be addressed in 2025 with a plan for two officers dedicated to enforcing traffic laws — and yes that does mean citations.
“Once we get up to a certain number of officers on the street, we will assign two officers strictly for traffic violations and accidents, which can be time consuming. That means the beat officer can’t be on the street patrolling the neighborhoods.,” Nelson said.
City Council is exploring converting the South Dixie Highway fire station, which will be vacant when two new firehouses are completed next month, into a substation for police.
Nelson said the plan would be beneficial not only for closer proximity to the East End without having to go back and forth to the downtown city building, but also for evidence storage.
“It could be used for processing people for small things that are not arrestable, but also we are running out of storage in our property room. There is a records retention schedule, but for homicides (cases) you have to keep that property forever – can never be disposed of. We are running out of longtime storage of property,” Nelson said.
Eventually the chief envisions the substation being a true precinct allowing for role call at the building, storage of gear and cruisers a the site and having sergeants on both the east and west sides of the city.
“It is about visibility and more officers on the street which will mean shorter response times,” he said, estimating the average response time now, depending on the call and area of the city is less than five minutes. “It is going to look different this time next year. We will be a completely different police department, a more visible police department with a lot of new faces.”
Middletown Division of Police 2024 stats:
- 62,453 calls for service
- 2,834 prisoners were booked into the Middletown City Jail
- Middletown Police Communications answered 110,844 incoming. They placed 23,639 outgoing calls.
- Police records clerks processed 2,458 public records requests
Source: Middletown Division of Police
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