Cedar Hill police, fire present 2024 annual reports citing drop in crime and heavy public safety budget share

Cedar Hill public safety leaders presented their 2024 annual reports to council on Aug. 12, reporting declines in crime indices, detailed investigative statistics and broad community outreach efforts.

Chief Reyes briefed the City Council on department mission and trends, saying the council’s recurring budget decisions dedicate roughly 60–65% of the city’s general fund to public safety. Reyes said the city’s overall crime index is down nearly 40% over seven years and down about 7% year over year.

The police portion of the report included detailed operational figures: 20,574 calls for service, 10,580 traffic stops and a combined 31,154 total encounters with the public in 2024. The department reported 1,257 arrests and 25 incidents involving physical force; staff said those force incidents encompassed 30 types of physical force and occurred in about one in every 1,246 encounters. The department reported 64 instances in which an officer pointed a firearm (described in the report as "threats of force") and said internal review found those incidents were within policy.

Detective work and records: Assistant Chief Lafferty reported Criminal Investigations received about 4,500 cases with more than 2,000 resulting in additional follow-up; he said CID’s clearance rate was 24% for the year and the combined clearance rate for Part 1 and Part 2 crimes was about 47–48%. Technical and records staff — led by Pam Brown — handled roughly 3,900 open-records requests and processed alarm permits and billing; the department reported property-and-evidence operations conducted multiple audits and recorded 100% compliance during inspections.

Professional standards and use-of-force review: Captain Chenault said the department provided about 6,445 hours of training in 2024 and described internal-complaint totals: 13 citizen complaints and 22 internal complaints for a total of 35 complaints and 65 allegations. Chenault emphasized the department’s internal accountability processes.

Patrol and community services: Assistant Chief Reese said patrol responded to more than 20,000 calls and achieved modest improvements in response times. Community service officers handled more than 4,600 calls and produced roughly 950 reports, freeing patrol officers for higher-priority work. Traffic enforcement units logged about 1,700 stops; commercial motor-vehicle inspectors performed 585 inspections, documenting about 4,000 violations and taking 65% of inspected trucks out of service, the presentation said.

Community outreach and awards: Lieutenant Sandifer described the Police and Community Team (PAC) and listed programs including citizen police academies, National Night Out, youth summit, senior-center visits and crime-prevention efforts. The department highlighted year-end awards and said officers and staff vote on annual honors; the department also noted ongoing recruitment and retention challenges.

Chief Reyes and staff supplied full printed copies of the 2024 police and fire annual reports for council review.