The Bismarck Police Department is "on the margin" of having enough officers to effectively police the growing city, Chief Keith Witt says.

"I'd like to have 200, but obviously that isn't realistic," Witt joked.

Witt and Deputy Chief Dan Donlin addressed the potential future officer shortage during a press conference about the department's 2007 crime statistics on Thursday.

The department has 90 sworn officers, and another six would give them more time to perform proactive, rather than reactive, steps, he said.

Donlin said six more officers would give each shift an extra officer. The investigative staff also could use more help, especially concerning increased Internet crimes and sexual assaults, he said.

"With the short staff, even our investigative staff is stretched pretty thin,"Donlin said.

The department's officers will have to balance their time working on crime prevention, responding to reports of crimes and enforcing traffic laws, Witt said.

"With the growth of the community, the challenge is going to be how to spend the officers' time effectively,"he said.

Reports of serious personal crime decreased slightly in 2007, compared to 2006. The department took 1,216 reports of serious personal crimes in 2007, down from 1,251 in 2006.

Though serious personal crime was down overall, 30 reports of forcible rape were made in 2007, compared to 18 in 2006.

"It's really hard to determine" why there was an increase in forcible rape reports, Witt said. "Hopefully, we're getting more of those offenses reported to us."

Aggravated assaults were up slightly, from 83 in 2006 to 86 in 2007, but Witt pointed out that the high number follows a sharp increase from 2005 to 2006, when aggravated assault reports went from 37 to 83.

"We did see a somewhat significant increase last year,"he said, noting that this year's assault numbers seem to have "leveled off"

Witt said the perceived leveling off of reports may be related to efforts to partner with community groups, such as schools and domestic violence and sexual assault groups, educational efforts and efforts by police department employees to prevent crime and help victims.

Working with the community will be a continuing effort to reduce crime, Witt said.

"We can only do so much,"he said. "We need the community involvement."

He asks that people "eliminate the opportunity" for crimes by taking steps such as locking car and home doors, closing garage doors and not leaving valuables in an unlocked car. People also can help prevent or solve crimes by informing police anytime they see something suspicious.

Traffic concerns continue to be the most brought up problem in Bismarck, Witt said. In 2007, almost 10 accidents were reported every day.

"Obviously, we need to focus on our traffic enforcement efforts," he said.

Donlin said 3,149 crashes in Bismarck caused an estimated $17,327,332 in damages, one fatality and 576 injuries in 2007.

"That's why we try to do a lot of traffic enforcement as well," he said.

Witt and Donlin said they are not sure what the effects of a recent Supreme Court decision that lowered many of the city's traffic fines will be. Officers will not change their habits because of the lower fines, Donlin said.

"They're going to continue making their stops," he said.

The department saw a steep decrease in traffic citations, from 13,230 in 2006 to 10,877 in 2007. Driving under the influence arrests also decreased from 617 to 597. Witt said the decrease likely was due to the department being about 10 officers short at any time most of the year.

Many new officers were in training during the year, several people were out with injuries and several people retired, he said. The department now is fully staffed, though several officers are still in training, and he knows of two people retiring this year. The department's average turnover is six to seven people per year, and it takes about six months to get a new officer on the street to replace an outgoing one, he said.

Other details from the 2007 crime statistics include:

n Property crimes were down slightly in 2007, which includes a 23.4 percent decrease in forgery reports and a 20.4 percent decrease in embezzlement. Reports of stolen property and robberies were up slightly.

n Despite being lower than in 2006, there were still significantly more personal and property crimes in 2007 than compared to a five-year average.

n Domestic disputes were up slightly, from 330 in 2006 to 355 in 2007.

n Police responded to 30,771 calls for service in 2007, and 10,415 reports were generated from the calls. Officers made 13,685 traffic stops.

n Parking citations decreased from 13,670 in 2006 to 10,154 in 2007.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)