The Wichita Police Department is reporting continued success in efforts to reduce property crimes through a special task force that was created last fall, and the task force will become a full time unit.
The task force was created in October, 2024 to combat property crimes with proactive and targeted strategies. The task force has focused on retail theft, auto theft, burglaries, construction site thefts and serial offenders.
Police Captain Casey Slaughter said the task force has contacted 197 businesses, it has arrested 252 offenders, seized 25 firearms and recovered 200 stolen vehicles with a value of over $3.6 million. He said so far this year the work of the task force has resulted in a 17 percent reduction in Part I property crimes compared to 2024, with a 27 percent reduction in auto thefts.
Slaughter said a decision has been made to make the task force a full-time team, and new partnerships have been formed with the Rose Hill and Andover police departments as well as the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office. The task force has been working with police departments in Bel Aire, Goddard, and Mulvane and the Butler and Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Offices.
