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Middletown police report 28% drop in reported crimes in 2025, chief says
Summary
The police chief told the Middletown Police Commission that reported Part 1 and Part 2 crimes fell about 28% in 2025 compared with 2024, uses of force incidents decreased and community programs and targeted enforcement were credited for part of the change.
The police chief told the Middletown Police Commission on Jan. 15, 2027, that reported and investigated crime decreased across major categories in 2025.
"The department handled 31,945 calls for service in comparison to 2024, was 32,485," the chief said, and later reported "403 Part 1 offenses in comparison to 610 in 2024," a 34% year‑over‑year decline. He said the department investigated 1,157 Part 2 offenses in 2025 versus 1,551 in 2024, a 25% decrease; combined Part 1 and Part 2 incidents fell to 1,560 from 2,161, a 28% drop.
The chief said Part 1 crimes include seven categories — murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and motor‑vehicle larceny — and listed common Part 2 incidents such as narcotics offenses, DWI, fraud and disorderly conduct. He noted the state Department of Criminal Justice defines those reporting categories and receives monthly submissions from local departments.
Arrests also fell, the chief said, with 2,508 arrests in 2025 compared with 2,702 in 2024, a roughly 7% decrease. "When you take that total number of calls for service ... it's 7.8% of the calls end up in some type of an arrest," he said, down from about 8.3% the prior year.
Uses of force declined in 2025 as well: the chief reported 66 use‑of‑force incidents in 2025 versus 85 in 2024, a 22% decrease, and said uses of force represented about 2.5% of arrests in 2025 compared with roughly 3.15% in 2024. He attributed reductions to a mix of targeted enforcement, community outreach, neighborhood prevention work and training.
The chief also described a recent targeted traffic detail that produced 465 traffic stops, 566 summonses and 30 arrests over 47 shifts; he said the department used a traffic‑analysis tool (referred to as "urban SDK") to focus enforcement on high‑complaint locations.
On noncriminal calls of concern, the chief said four reports of shots fired in November and December were unfounded after canvasses; one December report corresponded to a 21‑gun salute at an American Legion ceremony.
Why it matters: the commission received substantive year‑end data that will inform budget and staffing discussions for 2027. The chief emphasized that numbers are only one measure of community safety and that the department is pursuing training and prevention programs to reduce incidents.
Next steps: the commission accepted the department's routine policy updates and then moved into an executive session to discuss personnel matters, ending the public portion of the meeting.
