Madison police report crime declines, big jump in mental-health response calls

Police Chief Misha said the Madison Police Department is seeing mixed trends as it prepares its 2026 budget: calls for service rose about 6% in 2025, but major property and violent-crime categories fell sharply over a two-year period.

"Motor vehicle thefts have gone down 85% in the two-year span," Chief Misha said, adding that burglaries and thefts have also dropped. The chief credited a combination of proactive policing, visibility and the department's traffic and investigative units.

The chief highlighted a much larger rise in Arrive mental-health responses, a program that pairs a clinician with an officer: "We had 90 calls in 2024. In '25, those calls almost doubled to 169," he said, noting the department recorded no use-of-force incidents in connection with those calls.

Deputy and council members pressed the chief on data and safeguards related to automated license-plate readers (ALPRs). Chief Misha said ALPR settings are narrowly tuned to flag stolen vehicles or plates and that the data are tightly regulated and audited by the county Department of Public Safety.

The department also listed capital needs, including continued investment in license-plate recognition, mobile data terminals and consideration of body-worn cameras and NCAR cameras. The chief said the agency is on track for reaccreditation this year and emphasized training such as de-escalation and crisis intervention.

Council members applauded the presentation. Councilman John Forte said the combination of increased motor-vehicle stops and decreased use-of-force points to effective training and supervision. "We're interacting with the public more than previously, but the use-of-force incidents are down," he said.

Next steps: the police department's capital requests and operating figures will be folded into the borough's broader budget review at the finance committee and in subsequent council budget hearings.