Huntington crime stats for 2015: robberies and prostitution up

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The Huntington Police Department has released preliminary crime statistics for 2015.

Prostitution arrests and reported robberies showed a drastic increase compared to the year before.

Huntington Police say there were 97 prostitution arrests in 2015, which was an 83% increase from 2014. In 2015, Huntington Police increased their effort in cracking down on prostitution in the city, focusing on customers who patronize prostitutes and those who are indirectly contributing to the city's drug problem by financing the habits of the addict/prostitute.

Police say they are concerned about an increase in robbery offenses from 119 in 2014 to 168 in 2015.

Despite that increase, police say there was a decrease in serious crime in the city in 2015. Serious crime includes murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

Officers answered a total of 44,978 calls for service, which was a slight increase from 2014 (2.7%).

The total number of offenses reported in the city decreased by 4%.

There were 2,238 crash investigations in 2015, and one reported fatal accident. Traffic fatalities decreased by 83.3%. There were six fatal accidents in 2014.

There were 4,680 arrests made in Huntington in 2015. That's an increase in 6.2%.

Of those arrests, 1,099 were for drug offenses. The city saw a major increase in heroin use in 2015, with more than 900 reported overdoses.

There were 530 DUI arrests in 2015, an increase of 25%. Of those arrests, nearly 60% were for drug impairment.