The Bridgeville Police Department had a notable year in 2016.
Officer Matt Haley rescued a woman from a burning car. The department made international headlines for using social media to help locate a robbery suspect. Police tracked down the owners of a “heroin shooting kit” that a child found on Washington Avenue.
In less headline-grabbing news, retail thefts kept police busy throughout 2016, especially at the Rite-Aid store on Washington Avenue.
Police were called to Rite-Aid 180 times last year, which resulted in 76 arrests.
Some 90 percent of those those cases, according to police chief Chad King, were patients from local addiction-treatment clinics shoplifting while getting their prescriptions filled.
Overall, there were 40 drug-related arrests in the borough last year.
There were also 34 DUI arrests in 2016. King notes that DUI can indicate being under the influence of not just alcohol but also a variety of other substances.
Police issued 520 traffic citations last year, a 62% increase over 2015.
Approximately 150 of those citations were issued on Bower Hill Road, most for speeding.
There were 11 reported burglaries last year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there were 11 burglaries. Approximately six of those calls were clear-cut cases of somebody illegally entering a building with the intent to commit a crime, King said. Police solved three of those cases. In other instances, it was less certain whether there was an actual burglary or if someone invited into the house stole things while there.