WICHITA - The police department has released Wichita's crime statistics for 2012.
     Wichita police chief Norman Williams says total crime in Wichita was up 2% last year, driven mostly by a 13% increase in larcenies. The top larceny items stolen in Wichita last year were: (1) cash, (2) cell phones, (3) purses & wallets, (4) credit cards, (5) bank cards, (6) driver's licenses, (7) identification, (8) rings, (9) social security cards, and (10) computers.
     Wichita saw slight increases in 2012 in homicide, rape, robbery, and burglary. Auto thefts & aggravated assaults were down.
     Wichita police last year were able to increase the rate of solved cases for rape, robbery, burglary, and auto theft. Solved cases for homicide, aggravated assaults, and larceny were down.
     There were only 14 gang-related drive-by shootings last year in Wichita, down 55% from four years ago, and down about 94% from the trouble-plagued violence of the 1990s. Wichita police arrested 991 gang-members last year; there are about 3,000 documented gang-members in Wichita.
     Other noticeable increases in crime last year: auto embezzlement was up 38%, sex offenses up 7.5%, and fraud up 6%.
     Other noticeable decreases in crime last year: prostitution down 43%, DUI cases down 21%, and parking violations down 14%.
     Chief Williams says last year, his department was able to purchase 200 new mobile computer terminals for use in the field, and 150 new tasers, replacing older ones from 2006. The Wichita police department also received five rapid I.D. fingerprint machines from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
     All Wichita police sub-stations are now staffed by a field crime analyst, who works to detect crime trends in their bureaus. That work allows police to detect and respond to crime trends in days, rather than weeks or months.
     The Wichita police department last year reorganized its structure for the first time in 17 years; chief Williams says that will help the department deal with budget contraints that have been in place since 2009.