Champaign Co. Sheriff: service calls up, traffic accidents down in 2023

Bradley Zimmerman
·2 min read

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The Champaign County Sheriff’s Office has released its 2023 Annual Report, detailing statistics and highlights from last year in its emergency response and law enforcement.

The report included statistics for service calls, arrests, notices to appear (in place of physical arrests), traffic accidents, shooting incidents, jail intakes and average daily jail population. Among these seven categories, four went up and three went down between 2022 and 2023.

Second motorcyclist hurt in another Champaign crash

A table of these statistics can be found below:

Category

2023

2022

Difference

Service calls

14,591

14,469

Up 122

Arrests

576

558

Up 18

Notices to Appear

170

148

Up 22

Traffic accidents
(accidents involving fatalities)

407
(6)

505
(2)

Down 98
(Down 4)

Shooting incidents

13

16

Down 3

Jail intakes

4,503

4,168

Up 335

Average daily jail population

302

320

Down 18

There was an increase in traffic stops compared to 2022, with almost 3,000 in 2023. Those stops resulted in 2,000 citations and 1,600 warnings.

Sheriff Dustin Heuerman said the rise in traffic stops correlates directly to safer driving.

“Why is it important that I’m giving you this warning for texting and driving? It’s because you may take somebody’s life if I don’t address this,” Heuerman said. “Why is it important that I stop you for something and I make an arrest for DUI? It’s not because my deputies want something extra to do during their shift. It’s because they know if that’s not addressed, it could create a fatality accident.”

Heuerman’s goal for 2024 is to have zero traffic fatalities. That number went from six in 2022 to two last year.

The full report from the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office can be found below:

Champaign-County-Sheriff-2023-Annual-Report

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