LENOIR, N.C. (WHKY) — Lenoir’s second-quarter public-safety figures show police arrests increased while the average time for the first fire apparatus to reach an emergency call also rose.

Police recorded 547 arrests during the second quarter of 2026, including 99 felony arrests and 448 misdemeanor arrests. The same quarter in 2025 produced 446 arrests. Police Chief Andy Wilson said arrest totals and charge totals measure different things because one case can produce multiple charges.

The department reported seizing more than $128,000 in illegal narcotics in its own work and assisting other agencies in investigations involving an estimated $1.88 million in drugs. Officials said some of those outside investigations remain active.

The Fire Department’s average first-arriving response time was five minutes and 53 seconds, compared with three minutes and five seconds a year earlier. Fire Chief Norman Staines cautioned that the state’s switch to a new incident-reporting system and the location and volume of calls make year-to-year comparisons difficult. Total incidents declined from 844 to 787.