La Cygne police chief reports on 2025 investigations
- Roger Sims, Journal Staff
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Roger Sims
LA CYGNE – The La Cygne Police Department handled more than 109 cases involving misdemeanors and felonies during 2025, with all but two of those cases cleared. That was the report by Police Chief Zachary Mathies during the La Cygne City Council meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
That number did not include traffic citations (101) and seven city codes violations. In his report Mathies said the three-year average for citations was 55, just over half the number issued in 2025. Traffic stops in 2025 were 867, compared to the three-year average of 390.
Traffic misdemeanors for the year were 32, the number of drug possession cases were 12, and while the number of cases involving alcohol were seven, only one driver was charged with driving under the influence.
Domestic battery was top crimes against persons handled in 2025 with five cases. Two cases of aggressive assault and battery, three cases of battery, and one case of assault and battery of a law enforcement officer were reported. There was a rape case and another sex crime reported during the year, and other cases included disorderly conduct (two cases), phone harassment and criminal threat.
Property crimes included four cases of forgery of identification theft, four shoplifting cases, two felony theft cases, one burglary and two cases of theft (excluding shoplifting).
The burglary case and one of the non-shoplifting theft cases were not solved by the end of 2025.
Mathies’ report also indicated a leap in the number of building checks by officers. In 2025, there were 719 building checks, up from a three-year average of 26 checks.
He also mentioned the incident on Dec. 4 when a vehicle was apparently abandoned by its driver on the train tracks after it had become stuck. The vehicle was subsequently struck by a train, triggering a response by not only the police department but also by first-responders including ambulance, fire, sheriff’s deputies, and investigators with BNSF Railway. No one was injured in the accident.
The department also performed 86 vehicle identification number inspections. The police chief said that the department is doing a large number of VIN inspections on vehicles owned by Johnson County residents who want to avoid the two- to three-week wait required for Department of Motor Vehicles inspections there.
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