TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, City Manager
FROM: Trevor Womack, Chief of Police
SUBJECT:
title
Salem Police Department Update: Annual Salem Crime Statistics and other Departmental Data
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Safe and Healthy Community; Welcoming and Livable Community.
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SUMMARY:
summary
The Salem Police Department published its annual review of Salem crime statistics, entitled Crime in Salem: Exploring the Trends 2025, which shows a decrease across major violent and property crime categories. Fatal traffic collisions also declined significantly last year. This report also includes information on calls for service, online reporting, and staffing as it relates to crime and public safety priorities.
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ISSUE:
Information report only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information report only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
In 2025, crime in Salem decreased by 17.3% across all major categories compared to 2024. The primary contributors were reductions in larceny (theft), motor vehicle theft, burglary, and aggravated assault.
Violent crime
From 2024 to 2025, Salem’s violent crime declined by 20.2%, with 194 fewer reported incidents; the largest single-year reduction in over 15 years (p.7). Notably, aggravated assaults dropped by 23.8%, or 171 fewer crimes. Additionally, homicides declined by 55.6% from nine to four.
Beyond the single-year comparison, Salem’s violent crime decreased by 14.6% from the three-year average. However, the long-term trendline for violent crime continues pointing upward, with the 2025 count being 11.4% higher than the 15-year average. Salem’s violent crime count in 2025 remained 45.6% higher than in 2011.
Property crime
Salem’s steady long-term decline in property crime since 2017 is accelerating, dropping by 16.7%, or 920 fewer incidents, from 2024 to 2025 (p.11). The decline was fueled by notable decreases in larceny (-11.9%), motor vehicle theft (-31.5%), and burglary (-25.2%). Salem’s property crime count was 25.6% lower than in 2011.
Other 2025 Departmental Data
Calls for Service
Salem Police calls for service generally range from 110,000 to 115,000 per year. In 2025, there were 110,829 calls (averaging over 300 per day), approximately 1,700 fewer than the year prior. Calls are handled in a variety of ways, from an in-person response to telephone and online reporting.
Enhanced Online Reporting
In June, the department launched an improved online reporting system, which produced promising numbers for 2025. The web-based platform reduces calls to the dispatch center and alleviates call load to field operations, allowing patrol officers to focus on higher-priority calls. The system efficiently processed 2,760 incidents last year, representing a remarkable 39.0% rise from 2024 and underscoring its growing use, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Traffic Education & Enforcement
Traffic fatalities dropped from a record-high of 22 deaths in 2024 to 11 in 2025, a 50% reduction. In 2025, the department intensified its proactive, data-driven traffic safety efforts, with traffic and patrol officers initiating or addressing 10,730 traffic-related calls, a 64.0% increase from 2024. See Attachment 2.
Staffing Challenges & Continued Focus
Salem continues to have the lowest per capita staffing ratio of Oregon’s eight most populous cities, yet it has the second-highest violent crime rate. These challenges demand continued focus on the key priorities as summarized in Attachment 3.
BACKGROUND:
The attached report, Crime in Salem: Exploring the Trends 2025 <https://salempd.info/trends-2025>, analyzes crime data and historical trends, which are essential for understanding public safety issues, service demands, and the prioritization of limited resources. The fifth annual report, further enhanced this year, includes a year-over-year comparison, a three-year view aligned with the department’s strategic planning cycle, and a comprehensive look at the long-term 15-year trends. Considering long-term trends and differentiating between short-term fluctuations helps support strategic, data-driven decision-making. There remains a long-term challenge with violent crime and police staffing, as presented in Attachment 3.
Data Sources & Reporting
Crime statistics for Salem are compiled from the department’s records management system, in accordance with the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
Increased Analytical Capacity
In 2021, the department began laying the foundation for increased analytical capacity by making internal personnel adjustments, upgrading technology, and restructuring policing districts to support an envisioned community policing model. This work allows us to better understand call and crime data at the district level, and staff are now developing the department’s first annual district-level analysis report. The new reporting capacity will provide greater transparency to our community and further support effective resource prioritization.
Community policing: smart, principled, proactive policing in action
Community Violence Reduction Initiative (CVRI <https://salempd.info/cvri>)
The department remains committed to reducing violent crime in our community. The initiative emphasizes two concurrent and collaborative efforts with (1) criminal justice and (2) community partners, fostering stronger relationships and promoting long-term solutions.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, the department has focused on reducing the risk of violence in neighborhoods and for individuals at the highest risk. 2024 statistics showed the violent crime rate hit a 15-year high, driven in part by an upturn in aggravated assaults; however, the data in the current report <https://salempd.info/trends-2025> is encouraging.
Aggravated assaults fell by 23.8% last year. This crime category includes physical attacks that cause serious or significant bodily harm, such as shootings and stabbings. Salem Police and its criminal justice partners use data-driven strategies to reduce street violence, examining where these incidents are most likely to occur and who is most likely involved as a victim and suspect. The dramatic 2025 decline is not yet an established trend, but it indicates progress in overall efforts. Given the long-term upward trend, violence reduction as outlined in the department’s current strategic plan <https://salempd.info/spd-strat-plan> will remain a departmental priority.
Increased Proactive Policing
In July, as the Safe, Clean, Healthy Salem initiative was developed, the department increased police presence in downtown and northeast Salem to address crime and livability concerns. The continuing temporary overtime assignments, funded by police salary savings, increase our ability to interrupt criminal behavior where violence and calls are more prevalent. The assignments also temporarily restore some level of proactive service lost with the elimination of the dedicated downtown team in January 2025.
Homeless Services Team Expansion
In 2022, the department created the Homeless Services Team (HST), which employs an outreach-and-proactive policing model in areas where unmanaged campsites pose safety and health risks. The two-officer team had limited capacity. Only operating four days a week left gaps in responsiveness to community concerns and made it harder to maintain a consistent presence in the core camping areas. In late 2025, the Safe, Clean, and Healthy Salem initiative provided an opportunity to expand the team to four officers and extend coverage to seven days a week. Previously, the two-officer team made approximately 1,000 campsite visits annually. The expanded team, which started on January 1, 2026, is now more responsive, increasing campsite visits to over 500 in just the first two months of the year.
Traffic Enforcement Efforts
In 2025, the Salem Police Traffic Team adopted a dual approach to traffic safety, increasing presence and enforcement by sharing areas of concern with patrol officers and partnering with neighboring agencies to increase safety. Educating, warning, and, when necessary, citing roadway users for violations that contribute to serious collisions, especially in crash-prone areas, remains an essential element of the current strategic plan <https://salempd.info/spd-strat-plan>.
Additionally, increased police visibility through traffic safety efforts is an effective tool for deterring crime.
Trevor Womack
Chief of Police
Attachments:
1. Crime in Salem: Exploring the Trends 2025
2. Salem Traffic Fatalities 2025
3. Salem Police Dept Staffing & Violent Crime