Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx says calls are up--but crime isn't

Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx is getting ready to release crime statistics for his department for 2017.  Marx says 2017 figures he's seen so far show that the number of phone calls to the Sheriff's Office was up in 2017—but the number of crimes committed was down.
 
Marx says one factor which might be influencing the statistics is the increasing use of cell phones.  He says the phones—and the cameras and video cameras that are part of the phones—are making it harder for a crime to go unnoticed.

If something does happen, members of the public are more likely to call the Sheriff's Office.  They're also more likely to take a photo or shoot a video.  Marx says that makes it harder for criminals to act without being noticed—which acts as a deterrent to crimes.