By Don Rush

Two of the top three sheriff’s substations in Oakland County – as far as clearance rates from 2022 – are in Oxford and Addison townships. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has 12 substations in the county.

“Looks like Oxford is Number One with a clearance rate of 79 percent,” Addison Township Substation Commander Detective Sgt. Jason Teelander said. “The lowest rate is 34 percent and the average clearance rate is about 50 percent. We were Number Three with a 69 percent clearance rate. In 2021 we had a clearance rate of 60 percent.”

According to Teelander, “The clearance rate basically means that the case is closed and solved . . . 69 percent of every criminal case we had in Addison Township was either cleared by an arrest or it was cleared but not prosecuted for some reason.”

Sometimes he said there is no prosecution due to a lack of willingness on the victim’s part to go to court.

In 2022, there were 7,766 calls for service in Addison Township, 784 emergency 9-1-1- calls, 536 non emergency calls, 487 traffic stops, five warrant arrests and the sheriff’s department assisted Addison Fire Department 329.

In Addison Township a number of crime categories saw decreases from 2021 to 2022. In 2021 there were 14 non-aggravated assaults, 10 in 2022. Also down were motor vehicle theft, arson and burglary without force, were all investigated once in 2021, zero last year. Operating While Intoxicated were down from seven to four; and Malicious Destruction of Property cases were down from three to one.

There were some year to year increases, however, too.

There were nine fraud cases last year, compared to six the previous year; six larcenies compared to only two in 2021. There were three reported identity thefts last year, none the previous year. There were three disorderly conduct cases last year, only one the previous year. Three Criminal Sexual Conduct cases were investigated in 2022, versus none in 2021. Last year there were two hit and runs, none in 2021. In 2021 there was one force entry burglary, two last year.

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According to numbers provided by Detective Sgt. Ric Meza of the Oxford Substation, the number of calls for service in Oxford Township dropped about 11 percent last year as compared to 2021.

In 2022, there were 14,627 calls for service versus 16,405 the previous year. Emergency 9-1-1 calls were down, 1,482 versus 1,521; sheriff’s deputies assisted the fire department 2,182 times in 2022 versus 2,203 times the previous year.

Oxford had one murder early in 2022, four in 2021. Assaults were down in 2022, 48 compared to 60 the previous year; felony assaults stayed consistent at 11 for both years; sexual assaults investigated dropped from five in 2021 to two in 2022. There were six stalking cases last year, eight the year before; four burglary cases in 2022 versus six the previous year. In 2022 there were 26 operating while intoxicated cases, compared to 38 in 2021.

Increases in 2022 crimes compared to 2021 include: larcenies 18, versus 13; 22 malicious destruction of properties versus 17 in 2021; six disorderly conducts, versus four the previous year; and two weapons offenses versus one in 2021.