That statute may have contributed to the number of arrests nearly doubling from 1990 to 1991, he said. The numbers dropped from 125 arrests for assault in 1998 to 83 in 1999. However, they have probably jumped up again, he said. Assaults in general have been increasing in the last five years, Trosper said. I think the weather has an effect.
People laugh at that, but hot weather makes people do crazy things.
Since 1995, Grand Island has had several small gangs that have conflicts with one another, Trosper said. The conflicts started as arguments, moved to fistfights and stabbings and have escalated to drive-bys and shootings. In the last two months, there have been four incidents in which buildings have been shot at, he said. Two were on East Fifth Street, one near the corner of First and Sycamore streets and one at the Cherry Park Apartments. The same people could have been involved in all of them, he said.