Lakewood police report 2025: city sees sharp drops in violent and property crime, chief credits technology

Chief Smith presented the Lakewood Police Departmentfourth-quarter 2025 report on Monday, telling the City Council that the departmentsaw substantial declines across multiple crime categories.

"This year was a banner year as far as our homicides," Chief Smith said, reporting that Lakewood went from five homicides in the prior year to zero in 2025. He summarized a broader decline in crime statistics, citing a 20.2% drop in aggravated assaults and a 42.9% decline in robberies. Overall, he described a 17.7% reduction across the categories he tracks.

Smith attributed part of the change to legislative reclassification of some offenses. "Our felony arrests were down 14.7% — that was basically from a change in our legislature, which moved some crimes that were felonies down to gross misdemeanors," he said, noting gross-misdemeanor arrests rose 44.4% while total arrests were down roughly 2.7%.

The chief pointed to technology investments as a major factor in the steep fall in motor vehicle theft. He said the citys prior peak of nearly 1,200 stolen vehicles in 2023 fell to 181 in 2025 after purchases including Flock Safety cameras and in-car technology. "You can see the overall trajectoryfrom November all the way down to 181 in 2025," Smith said, adding the department saw a 69% reduction in 2024 and a further 53% reduction in 2025 attributed to those tools.

Smith also reported pursuit and elude reductions — pursuits down about 27.8% and eludes down 45.6% — and a notable drop in shots-fired incidents.

Council members asked for more granular collision data to evaluate traffic projects. "We're really looking to see whether particularlywe've reduced the severity of collisions and not just totally focused on the numbers," Council member Branstetter said; Smith agreed staff can provide collision breakdowns by severity (injuries, fatalities, property damage) for 2026 to inform roadway design prioritization.

On human trafficking, Council member Lindholm asked whether that offense class appears in the report. Smith said trafficking is not singled out in the reports standard categories and that the department previously had detectives assigned to an FBI task force but currently has no officers on that task force due to a retirement and rotations. "We're gonna look into that," staff said when asked about restoring task-force assignments. Smith also referenced a technology-supported rescue of a 15-year-old as an example of successful investigative outcomes.

Council members praised the departments visibility and deterrent presence in the town center and thanked officers for the decline in several crime measures. Several council members asked staff to identify potential investments for the coming biennial budget to sustain gains; Smith suggested a gradual build toward a real-time crime center to address hot spots and blind spots in coverage.

Next steps: Council requested severity-classified collision data for 2026 and discussed budget timing for potential investments; no formal vote was taken at the study session.