Officials say real checks on property in December are to blame for the recorded jump in calls for services initiated by Ocean City police officers last month.
On Monday, Ocean City Police Department Capt. Michael Colbert presented members of the city’s police commission with an update on police activity for December. He noted that while citizen calls for service had declined last month (558 to 547), officer calls for service recorded a 40% increase – from 1,961 calls in December 2024 to 2,749 calls in December 2025.
Command staff attributed that increase to both business checks and property checks the police department conducted last month. Colbert said the department conducted between 600 and 700 more checks than the December prior.
“That’s really what it is,” he told the commission. “It’s up, but it’s up because our guys are being very proactive. Maybe that’s why citizen calls for service are down, because we are doing a lot of property checks here during the winter, which, traditionally, we do because there are fewer people here.”
While officer-initiated service calls were the highest the department had recorded in the last four years, Colbert said citizen calls for service were the lowest recorded since 2021. He applauded that statistic.
“That means that’s fewer Ocean City residents having to pick up the phone and dial 911 and ask for police service,” he said.
This is what happens when housing and property becomes so unaffordable that the only people that can afford to actually own property in Ocean City are using it is a vacation home and not really living there.