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Durham police present 2025 fourth‑quarter report; chief highlights 17% drop in violent crime
Summary
Durham Police Department reported a 16.9% decline in violent crime for 2025, drops in aggravated assault and firearm‑involved shootings, higher homicide clearances and improved staffing; the chief delivered the report as a final presentation to council amid questions about juvenile trends and data disaggregation.
Durham’s police chief presented the city’s 2025 fourth‑quarter crime report to the City Council, saying violent crime fell about 16.9% in 2025 compared with the previous year and that several categories showed notable declines. “Overall violent crime is down about 17%,” the chief said in the work session presentation.
The report showed drops in aggravated assaults (down about 21.5%) and fewer shootings involving aggravated assault; homicides were unchanged year‑to‑year with 39 reported in 2025, while firearm‑involved homicides decreased from 34 to 28. The department recorded 170 gunshot‑wound incidents in 2025 and seized 831 firearms, a 15% decrease in seizures from the prior year.
Chief of Police highlighted investigative performance and staffing improvements. Homicide clearance rates exceeded national averages, and the department’s sworn staffing rate rose to roughly 74.8% at the end of 2025, with multiple academy classes underway that officials said will push staffing higher when recruits graduate this year.
Council members pressed for more granular data. They asked for disaggregated information by zip code, race and age groups, and for clearance timelines and detail about juvenile involvement in crime. The chief said staff could provide month‑by‑month and juvenile breakdowns and noted an increase in juvenile involvement in some property‑related offenses, such as motor vehicle break‑ins.
During a Q&A exchange, council members also discussed diversion programs and their limits given rising rates of more serious offenses. The chief defended the department’s misdemeanor diversion approach as a tool to direct individuals to services and said officers are trained to use diversion when appropriate.
Mayor Williams and several council members praised the department’s work, calling out outreach programs, recruitment initiatives and specific recent incident responses that avoided use of deadly force. Council thanked the chief for his leadership; council remarks noted this was the chief’s final presentation in that role.
Council asked staff to return with requested follow‑up data — including more detailed spatial and demographic breakdowns of crime, gun recovery linkages to vehicle thefts and review of diversion program enrollment and outcomes — before the next public update.
