Owensboro Police Department Chief Art Ealum on Tuesday broke down the data relating to gun crime in the city for January in each of the last 5 years. The number of firearm discharges/shootings was up and aggravated assaults rose significantly. He also said gun crime among juveniles was out of control because “there’s no accountability” and they are “basically given a pass.”
Speaking in front of City Commissioners, Ealum detailed the number of firearm discharges/shootings by category for 2018-22 as shown in the chart below (victim refers to someone who was shot but did not die).
Ealum also noted that the number of guns in the community has risen over time as well, saying 24 weapons were confiscated in January 2022.
And he said most guns are not stolen.
“Somebody is furnishing guns, and these gun when we recover them are not stolen. So that means somebody that was eligible to purchase any gun is doing it,” Ealum said. “So, we will do everything we can to apprehend the folks that are doing this and work with our federal partners and charge the people supplying kids with guns, which is a federal offense.”
Ealum said that someone being shot and not dying is considered aggravated assault; with that definition, aggravated assaults — as well as some other violent crimes — trended up in January 2022 compared to recent years.
There were 11 aggravated assaults in January 2022 versus the 10 in the previous 4 years combined. Robberies numbered three in January 2022 versus two in the 4 years prior. Overall, Ealum said there were 16 reported violent crimes in January 2022 compared to 17 total in the previous 4 years.
Ealum said that the crimes often committed by juveniles are amongst young people who “don’t know how to manage conflict.” He said OPD has found that oftentimes when one person is shot at, they end up shooting at someone else in return in the week or so after.
While Ealum noted gun crimes involving juveniles are becoming prevalent, the lone homicide in January 2022 was executed by an adult and the victim who died was also an adult.
“Right now we have one homicide in 2022, but if these kids actually learned how to shoot and had good aim, we could be stacking bodies like other communities, Ealum said. “And we don’t want that.”
When it comes to consequences for juveniles, Ealum said there was a bit of a change a few years ago that stopped OPD from sending so many of them to the Warren Regional Juvenile Detention Center for punishment.
According to Ealum, Owensboro-Daviess County had developed a reputation of sending as many juveniles as larger cities like Lexington and Louisville to Warren Regional, while also having a vastly smaller population.
“So things were done to address that because it was an equity issue,” Ealum said. “But that pendulum has shifted so far, and it’s gotten out of control because now there’s no accountability, there are no consequences. So juveniles are being picked up and basically given a pass.”
He said there are things in the works to try to implement systems where the juveniles are still being reprimanded and the problem is decreasing.
