We made 111 arrests for July and for the entire month we handled 1,456 calls for service.

We continue to make arrests for thefts and other similar types of incidents. Our top call for the second half of the month was service-related calls like assisting citizens, unlocking cars and welfare checks.

We saw an increase in the domestic violence calls for the second half of the month, too. We have a lot of cases still pending as investigations continue.

Our detectives have been busy with a few new sex crimes that were reported in the later part of the month.

One of our more notable arrest for the second half of the month came when we responded to a Kelly Drive residence where Travis Hibbs, 39, of Wilmington was arrested after he assaulted his estranged wife and was forcefully trying to remove her from the residence.

Hibbs was charged with kidnapping, a felony, and domestic violence, and taken to jail.

WPD responded to two overdose calls for the second half of the month; neither resulted in a fatality.

It is always interesting to me when someone points out a Facebook post where police were there the night before and everyone assumes they were there for an overdose. Then as you talk to citizens in the community the perception is every call we handle is an overdose.

There has been a lot of misinformation out there about the volume of these types of calls communities are experiencing.

For the month of July we handled eight calls involving potential overdose situations. Far too often someone sees two or three patrol cars on scene and assume it is an overdose call.

In reality, officers might be talking to someone with mental illness, dealing with a hostile situation, or like a few weeks ago when officers responded to a person who took their own life and now they have a potential crime scene and they have to deal with distraught loved ones.

We handled a lot of calls involving domestic situations which are a two-person call. We respond to a lot of calls involving some level of mental illness and far too often it is kids with mental illness who have assaulted their grandparents who now have custody of them.

We have been fortunate to partner with Solutions and have their staff workers here at the department five evenings a week.

By doing this they can ride with officers and assist with these calls, aid with referrals, and make hospitalizations easier, to free up the officers.

Duane Weyand is Wilmington’s Police Chief.