College Station police report shows declines in some major crimes but increases in Northgate incidents and weapons seizures
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Summary
The police chief told the City Council that overall major‑crime categories declined in 2025 and department response times averaged about 6 minutes 22 seconds; Northgate saw sharp increases in arrests, citations, drug seizures and weapons recovered, prompting council questions about searches and demographic patterns.
The College Station Police Department presented its 2025 year‑end review to the City Council on Feb. 26, reporting 89,552 total calls for service and an average priority response time of about 6 minutes 22 seconds.
The chief said proactive policing generated roughly 37,953 community contacts and that traffic stops increased to 27,471. He highlighted declines in several crime categories — including burglaries and aggravated assaults — and credited investigative work (naming Detective Andre Mabel as instrumental in organized‑crime investigations) and technology such as drones and K‑9 teams for some of the improvements.
Council members focused questions on Northgate, where the department reported a 58% increase in arrests and a 44% increase in citations year‑over‑year, drug seizures up about 45% (42 to 61 seizures) and weapons recovered rising to 25 in the most recent year. The chief said many recovered firearms and related incidents occurred in the Northgate/bar district and tied the spike to density and a changing night‑time population.
Elected officials also pressed the chief on racial disparities in the rate of searches during traffic stops. The chief explained that of searches conducted, 345 were of Black motorists with 255 conducted on probable cause; by comparison, 223 searches were of white motorists with 135 probable‑cause searches, and Latino searches numbered 139 with 85 probable‑cause searches. He attributed much of the difference to probable cause outcomes and to the presence of nonresident motorists traveling through College Station.
Council asked staff to provide more detailed breakdowns — including the percentage of hands‑free ordinance citations that resulted in warnings vs. tickets, more granular violation categories for traffic stops, and further context on Northgate enforcement strategies. The chief said the department has about 171 sworn officers, with vacancies and 22 officers in training that affect patrol depth.
The presentation also reviewed special operations: SWAT (18 call‑outs), hostage negotiation (13 call‑outs) and bomb technicians (12 call‑outs, five recoveries). The department noted continuing emphasis on community education and targeted Northgate enforcement operations. Council requested additional analysis on the role of bars and density in Northgate trends and asked for follow‑up reports on specific areas requested during the meeting.
