MEXICO — Police Chief Roy Hodsdon said the number of complaints his department has received this year are on pace to surpass 2013.

“In 2013, we saw 1,938 complaints over the course of the entire year,” Hodsdon said Thursday afternoon. “Normally, we hit the 1,000 mark in complaints around September. This year, it’s June, and we’re at 970 complaints. In 2013, we didn’t hit 970 until late July.”

Hodsdon said that normally the number of complaints rise dramatically in the warmer months, especially July through September.

“We haven’t even hit our busy months and we’re already looking at higher numbers than last year,” Hodsdon said. “Also, the months that are normally slower were worse this year. February, March and April were bad months for us this year. Normally, we get around 30 complaints a week early in the year, but we’ve been looking at around 60 complaints a week.”

Hodsdon said the increase in complaints isn’t just for “little things.”

“The number of aggravated crimes that we’ve been seeing in Mexico is much higher than before,” Hodsdon said. “It’s not just simple assault or domestic violence cases we’re seeing. There are more aggravated assault cases, more aggravated criminal mischief, more gross sexual assault cases and aggravated drug trafficking.”

As of Wednesday, Hodsdon said his department is handling eight gross sexual assault cases.

The department handled 10 such cases in 2013.

“These gross sexual assault cases take a numerous amount of work to handle,” Hodsdon said.

“We’ve been seeing drugs come into the area that I’ve never had to deal with before in my career,” he said. “It makes things really busy for us.”

Hodsdon said there was an influx of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine and “other drugs that we don’t normally deal with in this town.

“Because the crimes that we’ve been facing have been aggravated, or more serious than normal, it takes my officers a lot more time to handle the paperwork and interview suspects,” the chief said. “As a result, I’m out on the streets a lot more, handling the smaller complaints and freeing up time for my officers to handle other cases.”

The increase in complaints has placed a strain on the department, though Hodsdon clarified that “everyone has stepped up and done their part.

“I’m not trying to say that we can’t keep up with the increase, because we have been,” Hodsdon said. “It just puts us at the peak level of what we can handle. We’re all stepping up though. Some of my guys will come in on their days off to finish up paperwork. We’re helping each other out.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com