Maricopa’s Commitment to Public Safety Shines Through in Annual Report

Published on April 18, 2024

A police officer speaks at a podium in a conference room. He wears a black uniform with badges and glasses, conveying a serious and professional tone.

This week at City Council, Maricopa Police Chief Mark Goodman shared a presentation looking back at last year and how our police officers spent their time; ensuring Maricopa remains one of the safest cities in Arizona.

“Community policing has been my priority since I came to Maricopa,” Chief Goodman says. “That goes beyond the Coffee with a Cop events and translates into community members being active and engaged to the point where they will pick up the phone and call us when they see something suspicious.”

Here are some of the big takeaways from Chief Goodman’s presentation:

A 10% overall reduction in overall crime per capita
- Of the over 35,000 calls received by MPD dispatch, there were no Priority “H” calls in 2023. These are the highest priority service calls and include any incidents that are life-threatening with a great possibility of death or serious injury.
- 74% of the calls were Priority 3, or the second to lowest tier of severity, and include disputes, disturbances, alarms, and property damage/collisions.

Slide titled 'Calls for Service by Priority' with a pie chart showing percentages: 74% Priority 3, 11% Priority 1, 9% Priority 2, 6% Priority 4, and 0% Priority H. Text details each priority's description and notes MPD dispatch received 35,672 calls, with 4,445 transferred to the Fire Department

He says when looking at last year, our residents made safety a priority with 65% of all calls initiated, because residents reported something suspicious or out of the ordinary to MPD.

Of the over 35,000 calls received by MPD in 2023, these were the most prevalent calls for service officers responded to:

Welfare check – 9.1%
Suspicious – 9%
Attempt to locate – 8.2%
Self-initiated – 7.8%
Burglary alarm – 6.9%
Parking problem – 6.6%
Follow up – 6.1%
Disturbance – 4.9%
Juvenile problem – 4.7%
Animal problem – 4%

Infographic titled 'Top 10 Calls for Service' showing two bar charts. Left chart: Top 10 Officer Initiated Activity with 'Observation' as highest. Right chart: Top 10 Citizen Initiated Activity with 'Emergency' as highest. Descriptive text below explains self-initiated and citizen-initiated activities.

"This report speaks volumes of the quality of men and women that we have working in the police department. Public safety plays an important part in our economic development, and our quality of life. Everything is really dependent upon our men and women and what they do in our community," said Councilmember Goettl during the council meeting.

MPD is also taking proactive measures to ensure our department grows to keep up with the expansion of our city. In 2023, 580 individuals applied to be officers! In total, 18 sworn officers, two public safety aides, a civilian investigator, and three dispatchers joined the department.

“This has bolstered our capacity to be community guardians and serve the public, all while directly supporting job creation and business development in Maricopa,” Chief Goodman said.

You can watch the entire presentation below to see the full lookback at MPD in 2023