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Waco Police report 2024: all crime down 11% and expanded community programs highlighted
Summary
Chief Cheryl Victoria presented year‑end 2024 staffing, crime statistics and community policing programs, reporting declines in violent and nonviolent crime and describing new recruitment, dispatch and behavioral‑health diversion efforts.
Chief Cheryl Victoria gave the Waco City Council a year‑end briefing on the Waco Police Department on Feb. 4, reporting staffing changes, crime statistics and new public‑safety initiatives for 2024.
Victoria said the department’s authorized sworn strength is 295 and the actual sworn count at the time of the presentation was 264, with five additional recruits in the academy and a hiring pipeline that the department expects will raise sworn strength to about 272 after a March civil service exam. She also reported gains in recruiting staff and recent dispatcher hires.
On crime statistics, Victoria said “violent crime over last year has been down 2%, nonviolent crime is down 9%, and all crime, is down 11%.” She told council the city recorded the lowest crime levels “since we could accurately court back in the early nineties,” and noted the department closed a high share of homicide cases compared with national clearance rates. She reported eight murders for the year, with multiple cases cleared and some ruled self‑defense; her presentation cited a clearance rate above the stated national average when including recent clearances.
The chief described several operational initiatives: expanding recruiting and offering civil service exams quarterly; filling dispatch vacancies and reducing call‑hold times; a family violence unit conducting lethality screening and enhanced strangulation investigations; and a pilot “Heart of Texas scribe” call diversion program where Behavioral Health Network personnel handled mental‑health calls in dispatch. Victoria said that program had diverted 212 calls and that 73 calls resulted in mobile crisis outreach responses alongside police.
She also described a Project Connect orientation for new recruits to learn neighborhood history and community leaders, Police Activities League programming, and awards won by officers and staff. Council members from across the dais praised the department’s community engagement and said they felt safer seeing officers and dispatchers in place.
Council discussion emphasized the department’s community policing presence, the benefits of increased staffing and the department’s role in behavioral health partnerships. No formal council actions were taken during the work session; the presentation was an informational briefing.
