More then 350 police officers from 15 different states visited Gulf Shores recently as the Gulf Shores Police Department hosted a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center event.

According to Gulf Shores Police Chief Edward Delmore, it was the largest event ever by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, based in Glynco, Ga.

“It was very successful and brought a lot of people to our area,” Delmore told council members at a recent meeting.

In addition, last week the police department hosted Dr. James Reese, a retired FBI agent with more than 25 years service. Reese, now a motivational speaker, gives more than 100 lectures per year throughout the world and has been the keynote speaker for more than 350 Fortune 500 companies.

“He came and did some motivational speaking for us, and it was very well attended,” Delmore said.

By the numbers

During the month of January, Gulf Shores made 73 arrests, 49 males and 24 females.

According to Delmore, when someone is convicted of a misdemeanor crime as the result of a recent arrest or is sentenced by the court, the subjects are incarcerated in the Gulf Shores correctional facility. As a result, during the month of January, 101 separate individuals were, at some point, incarcerated in the Gulf Shores jail.

In February, there were 87 total arrests, and 99 were incarcerated.

The total capacity of the jail at one time is 24, and Delmore said it could present a challenge as things get busier during the spring and summer months.

Domestic violence

Since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, statistics are showing an increase in domestic violence along the Gulf Coast.

“We tracked the 10 months before the BP incident and the 10 months after, and there has been a 40 percent increase in the number of domestic violence calls,” Delmore said. “There is a lot of additional stress going on.”

During the same time period, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s office has noted that, at the county level, both domestic violence calls and the amount of drug arrests have almost doubled during that same time period.