While the city of Jamestown is currently going without a nuisance officer, the report of the nuisance officer’s statistics ranging from May 27, 2023 to Nov. 6, 2024, which is the last time a report was done, reflects back on the work that the officer does within the city.

Officer Zach Sandberg usually fills the role of nuisance and quality-of-life officer, but returned to regular patrol duty a few months ago to help with the city police department’s manpower shortage. During a December city council meeting, Police Chief Timothy Jackson said that while facing the manpower shortage the ability to safely handle any calls that come in takes precedence over any nuisance calls.

“Not only do we have a manpower issue, we have two officers that are injured,” Jackson said during that meeting. “So not only are we short on getting up to our manpower minimum standard, we have two officers that are not on the road, so we can’t even handle the call volume as it is right now.”

Sandberg’s statistics of calls he responded to from May 27, 2023 to Nov. 6, 2024 are as follows; one call for performing mechanical work on a public roadway, one call for performing mechanical work on a sidewalk, one case of operating as a vendor or special event without a permit, which was a mobile marijuana bar, 36 responses to loud music in a residence and 20 for loud music in a vehicle, which the report notes that four offenders of that have been charged twice.

Other numbers include; 82 loud exhaust calls, 19 AUO 3rd calls, eight AUO 2nd calls, seven fireworks calls, 16 open container calls, including one in a parking ramp. One person for the open container was issued four times and another three times.

There were 29 trespassing cases, the majority of which were in parking ramps, one call for a mini bike in a roadway, 47 warrants served, including seven DOD warrants, one discharged firearm in the city, and four illegal burn cases.

A few calls were made in regards to bicycle problems in the city, including; 30 bicycle on sidewalk calls, one operating a bicycle over capacity, and six for a bicycle operated on the roadway in the incorrect lane.

Even more calls Sandberg responded to for this report include; four for a trailer parked on a roadway, one for a camper parked on a roadway, four for obstructing governmental administration, one loose dog, five loud or disruptive noise or yelling calls, three for appearing in public under the influence of drugs, 13 for junk in a yard, three for animal feces or vomit, four for a mattress in a yard, three for an egress blocked by junk, two forged license plates, 25 unregistered calls, 10 uninsured calls, one indistinct license plate, 16 uninspected vehicles, and two with switched plates.

There were two calls of tampering with physical evidence, one for reckless driving, seven for a suspended registration, 10 for an unlicensed operator, five for insufficient headlamps, four for failure to stop at a stop sign and one for speeding in a zone.

There was one call for an unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, one for construction material in a yard, 49 unregistered motor vehicles on properties calls, three failures to signal, three for disorderly conduct, eight calls of criminal trespassing in the third degree, including two on a railroad property, six littering calls, and three cases of parking a motor vehicle on a lawn.

Other cases looked at drug possession, specifically one of a controlled substance in the third degree and controlled substance in the fifth degree, which included 9.4 grams of Meth, 7.4 grams of Fentanyl, and .5 grams of Cocaine. Two other cases were seen about criminally using drug paraphernalia.

Other calls included; six for decaying organic material or kitchen household garbage in a yard, seven for metal, plastic and paper in a yard, one for being in the park past posted hours, two for parking in police parking only, one for a barking dog, seven for the accumulation of items like clothes and blankets not designed for exterior storage or accumulation, one burning land clearing material, one burning construction material, one reckless operation or performing a wheelie on a public highway, and two for no tail lights.

One call of fixing a vehicle in the roadway led to a criminal possession of a controlled substance case in the seventh degree of 1.6 grams of cocaine and five hydrocodone pills. The report also highlights calls of three for junk, garbage, tarps, and mattresses for a campsite on city property, one forged inspection, one bicycle with no bell, one bicycle with no light or reflectors, one for Methylphenidate Pills, one for no front plate, seven for harassment in the second degree, seven for criminal mischief in the fourth degree, one storage of furniture outside, six cases of criminal contempt in the first degree, three failure to keep right cases, 12 of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, one for criminal impersonation in the second degree, and one fugitive from justice case.

There were two failure to maintain lawn calls, one storage of a garbage outside container calls, one criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, one for allowing pets to defecate and urinate in a residence, one for having more than three dogs in a single family residence, one allowing dogs to live in a deplorable environment, one using a cellphone while operating a motor vehicle, six for discharging fireworks in the city, two for menacing in the second degree, four for resisting arrest, two for criminal trespass in the second degree, one for the accumulation of animal and human feces, and four for criminal contempt in the second degree.

Finally, the report ends with one call for an unsafe start, one failure to obey traffic devices, one false personation, one criminal mischief in the third degree, one cruelty to animals case, one arson in the second degree, one endangering the welfare of a child case and one case of a trailer being on a roadway for over two hours.

The manpower issue for the police department is slowly being resolved, but Jackson told the Post-Journal that Sandberg is not likely to return to the position until the summer.

“He won’t be back until summer,” Jackson said. “We have hired five more officers and when their training is complete he will go back to being the nuisance officer.”