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Fort Smith Police report drop in Group A crime, expand youth and wellness programs
Summary
Chief James Baker presented the Fort Smith Police Department—s 2024 annual report to the Board of Directors, citing a 14% drop in Group A crime, expanded community programs and plans to propose officer pay increases in the 2026 budget.
Chief James Baker presented the Fort Smith Police Department—s 2024 annual report to the Fort Smith Board of Directors on May 20, saying the city saw an overall drop in reported crime and that the department would pursue pay increases for officers in the 2026 budget.
Baker said the department recorded a 14% decrease in Group A crime in 2024 from 2023 and a 33% decrease since 2019. "Public transparency continues to be one of my steadfast, unwavering commitments to the people of Fort Smith," Baker told the board, highlighting the department—s public records and outreach work.
The report outlined staffing, budget and program details. Baker said the department has 226 authorized positions, and that sworn staffing increased from 164 to 167 officers in 2024. He said the department spent $33,887,968 from the city sales-tax fund, including $2.4 million to implement officer raises in 2023, $621,052 for Axon body-worn cameras, a $500,000 partial payment on the Crane Kia property, and capital expenses including a new boiler and a cooling tower at headquarters.
Baker described several community-engagement programs. He said the department attended or hosted 398 outreach events with an estimated total attendance in the tens of thousands, ran 47 crime-prevention classes and distributed thousands of meals through a food patrol program. He described a new or expanded Shield Our Youth initiative, "based on our core principles of service, honor, integrity, education, legacy and dedication," and credited Officer Blake Scott and Restore Hope—s Courtney Harlan for program work.
On operational metrics, Baker reported 5,417 arrests in 2024 (1,185 felonies and 3,380 misdemeanors), 15,159 offense reports and 39,114 incident reports. He said the crisis-intervention unit responded to 3,483 crisis calls, referred 1,263 people to mental-health treatment and diverted 251 people from incarceration to alternative treatment. The department also implemented a traffic unit in 2024 that conducted thousands of traffic stops and issued more than 1,100 citations. Baker said detectives seized more than $1.7 million in narcotics.
Directors asked questions about staffing, 911 consolidation and employee wellness. Director Rigo asked whether demand on telecommunicators required more staff; Baker said a planned consolidation of emergency communications should help and that the department is investing in employee wellness. "One of our primary focuses this year in 2025 is employee wellness," Baker said, adding the department has committed a full-time person to wellness and is implementing peer support.
Baker also said he plans to work with administration to present a proposal for raises in the 2026 budget, telling the board, "I intend to work with administration to present a raise proposal for our police officers in the 2026 budget." He said recruiting and retention remain competitive in the region.
The presentation ended with board members thanking personnel for community outreach and training work; no formal board action was taken on the report itself.
