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Rohnert Park reports lower Part One crimes, few use-of-force incidents and thousands of traffic stops in 2024
Summary
The city's public safety chief told the council crimes against people and property fell year-over-year in 2024 after a reporting change; the department recorded 34,845 contacts with the public (99.91% without force), roughly 30 shows-or-uses of force, no deadly-force incidents, 7,699 traffic stops and about 1,600 citations.
The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety presented its 2024 annual statistics to the City Council on March 25, showing a year-over-year comparison after a switch to the NYERS reporting system.
Chief overview: the department reported 34,845 in-person contacts with individuals in 2024. Of those contacts, 99.91% were resolved without a show or use of force, with approximately 0.6% reported as a ‘‘show of force’’ (pointing a taser/firearm or other non-contact display), roughly 0.3% as an actual use of force (including empty-hand control and restraints) and about 0.1% as less-lethal deployments. The chief emphasized there were no deadly-force incidents in 2024.
Crime totals: after converting to NYERS (which reports each crime code on an arrest sheet rather than only the most serious), the department presented a true year-to-year comparison for 2024; crimes against persons and crimes against property both showed declines in the low-to-mid teens percent range. Property crimes (larceny/theft) remained the largest category, with retail food items singled out in department remarks as a common theft target.
Traffic and enforcement: officers made 7,699 traffic stops in 2024 and issued roughly 1,600 citations (moving and "fix-it" tickets combined). The chief noted a majority of citations were issued to nonresidents and discussed how the department uses warnings, targeted enforcement and engineering fixes (speed trailers, coordinated work with public works and schools) to change driver behavior. Council asked for additional data by reporting district and for juvenile/adult breakdowns where possible.
Race/ethnicity reporting and RIPA: the chief explained that the department records demographic identifiers primarily by officer observation (name, visual assessment) rather than ID self-report for most stops; he acknowledged concerns about human factors in that coding and said staff are working to keep RIPA and other reporting accurate.
Council reaction: members praised the department's reporting transparency and training, asked for juvenile-versus-adult breakdowns and for collision/stop trends by neighborhood so the city can combine enforcement with engineering remedies. The chief agreed to follow up with more granular data on juvenile contacts and district-level trends.
Next steps: the department will publish the full datasets on the city’s transparency page and provide requested breakouts to the council.
