Ogden police report multi-year crime decline, seek budget increases for technology and training

Ogden police officials told the Ogden City Council at a May 27 work session that Part 1 crimes have declined sharply since 2016 and that the department is seeking higher operating funding for technology, training and specialized positions.

The presentation, delivered by Brandon, a Police Department representative, and given on behalf of Chief Suby, described a multi-year drop in serious crimes and outlined where the department is asking for additional resources. “In 02/2016 we recorded 53.1 Part 1 crimes per 1,000 residents,” Brandon said. “In 02/2024 we recorded 23.6 per 1,000 — nearly cut in half.” The department reported it is 14% below the same period last year through April 2025.

The city’s police leaders framed the decline as the result of a mix of crime-reduction strategies and investments in training. Brandon said the department logged 15,825 training hours in 2024 — about 110 hours per officer — against a statutory minimum of 40 hours. He said the training includes mental-health and crisis response, de‑escalation, autism awareness, firearms and internal affairs.

Police officials highlighted a shift in some statistics driven by enforcement. Under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), crimes against persons were down 17.1% year over year and crimes against property were down 7.5%, the presentation said. By contrast, “crimes against society” rose; Brandon said that of 910 such incidents logged this year, 821 were drug offenses — roughly 90% — and that increase reflects proactive policing that uncovers drug possession and paraphernalia that otherwise would go undetected.

The department also gave usage and service figures. Brandon said patrol and related units handled roughly 42,595 calls for service in the 10 months measured in fiscal 2025, and estimated total officer–citizen contacts (calls plus proactive encounters) near 79,000, producing 56 documented uses of force during that span. “That’s about seven uses of force for every 10,000 police‑citizen contacts,” Brandon said; he added that among arrests the use‑of‑force rate rises to about 1%.

Homeless‑service work and victim support were emphasized as part of public‑safety outcomes. The department said its homeless mitigation team housed 74 people this fiscal year, made 2,667 mitigation contacts and has 504 individuals receiving ongoing services. The department’s victim advocacy staff provide outreach to roughly five victims per workday, the presentation said.

Officials described recent technology and efficiency changes that the department says are reducing staff time and costs. The Police Department reported IT auditing and subscription reductions that saved about $25,000 and said a GovQA records platform and BuyCrash traffic‑crash automation together have saved an estimated several thousand staff hours in their first year of use.

Budget requests discussed at the work session included a planned increase in training funding to about $206,000 to cover recurring training needs rather than relying on unspent payroll, and an increase tied to the department’s Axon contract for body cameras, storage and taser replacement. Brandon said the existing Axon services contract is about $200,000 per year and that the department is asking for an additional increase (presented as an approximately $31,000 uplift) to move to a 10‑year contract that would include updated taser hardware (taser 10), virtual‑reality training, unlimited storage and hardware warranties. Brandon said that the department purchased taser sevens in 2021 (which are near end of life) and that the taser 10 technology would raise reliability from under 50% (single‑shot devices) to an agency‑reported effective rate above 90%.

On staffing, the department reported recent recruiting gains after boosting lateral‑hire incentives. The sign‑on bonus was raised from $5,000 to $7,500 and the department now offers 40 hours of front‑loaded leave for laterals; Brandon said that lateral recruitments rose from 2 to 13 in the months after those changes, a 550% increase. He said the department is currently staffed above its authorized baseline: “We are currently staffed at 53 of 50 sworn positions,” he said, and noted several officers remain in the academy or training.

Council members asked several follow‑ups about perception of safety versus crime statistics, response times for property‑crime calls, and the department’s strategy on traffic and pedestrian safety. Brandon said the department wants survey questions that separate perceptions from direct victimization (for example, “Have you witnessed a crime?” versus “Do you feel safe?”) and said officials can provide comparisons to state and national averages on request.

No formal votes or ordinance changes were taken during the police briefing. Council members asked the department to provide additional comparative data, to clarify the cost impacts of the proposed Axon contract extension and to supply details on any department‑specific employee support programs beyond citywide benefits.

The council’s discussion underscored two near‑term follow‑ups: more detailed benchmarking to other jurisdictions on crime rates and response times, and a budget cost breakdown for the Axon contract and the training funding so the council can consider the requests when it reviews the tentative and final budgets next month.