After weeks under the Williamson County “Stay Home Stay Safe” order, Georgetown Police Department data shows a slight drop in calls to service but a significant decrease in vehicle crashes.

Williamson County began issuing orders to reduce mass gatherings March 16 and issued the stay-at-home order through April 30 on March 24.

GPD Assistant Chief of Police Cory Tchida said people staying home has greatly affected the number of service calls the station receives.

GPD saw its greatest drop in calls to service in the two-week span between March 23 and April 5 as the orders took effect. And while there was an uptick in the first full week of April, the number of calls dropped once again as week four of the stay-at-home orders remained in place.

The peak for 2020 so far was 812 calls during the first week of March 2, before any shutdowns. The lowest was 543 calls during the week of March 30—the first full week of shutdowns, data shows.


Tchida said he doesn’t exactly know why there are few calls to service and whether to attribute it to less people being out and about, or individuals staying home and “being good,” but it is noticeable.

As for crashes, during the week of Feb. 17, GPD saw the highest number of vehicle crashes at 56 reports, data shows. That number dropped to 19 during the week of April 13, it shows.

Tchida said the numbers make sense as there are fewer drivers.

“There [are] less people on the road, so our crashes for four weeks have been trending down every week,” Tchida said. “One of the things [GPD] wanted to work on this year was clash reduction. I don't think this is necessarily how we wanted to do it, but it's definitely crash reduction.”

With calls to service down, Tchida said officers have increased their patrols of neighborhoods, businesses, parks and school campuses to ensure visibility in the community.

He added nothing has changed in the department as they continue to do the work they have always done.


“We are still out there every single day. We're in your neighborhoods every single day. We're still doing all the same things we've always done to keep people safe,” Tchida said. “And we want business owners to know we have not forgotten you. We are keeping an eye on your businesses when you can't.”