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BIRMINGHAM — The city of Birmingham recently released its annual crime report for 2024. The report is a detailed document that outlines the Birmingham Police Department’s activities and crime statistics from the last year.
Overall, last year there were less reported crimes in the department than there has been in recent years. There were a total of 374 offenses, which is lower than the 493 offenses from the year prior.
The average number of offenses from the last three years is 449.
The report lists each offense and includes the number of offenses from the year, compared to the last couple of years. It also has a three-year average.
The number of offenses was lower than the three-year average in every category except for assault, forgery/counterfeiting and robbery.
In 2024, there were 66 assaults, two robberies and nine cases of forgery/counterfeiting. These numbers are up from the three-year average, which is 57 for all assaults, 1.66 for robberies and 5.33 for forgery/counterfeiting.
One of the many categories that was down from the three-year average was larceny, with 92 cases, compared to the average of 120.66.
Motor vehicle theft was down to nine cases, compared to the average of 27.33.
While there is not one quantitative answer as to why crime rates are lower this year, Chris Koch, the investigations captain for the Birmingham Police Department, said it could be due to the strong presence of the department’s patrol team.
By having extra patrols, the department’s visibility is higher, which could potentially deter someone who otherwise planned on committing a crime. However, there is no way to prove that is the reason why crime rates were lower this year.
The report identifies “robbery, forcible sexual assault, larceny, burglary, damage to property, etc.” in “Group A.” According to the report, incidents in group A were down 21.91% from the year before. Arrests, however, were up 17.65%.
“The numbers of reported instances are down, but the quality and the investigative work done to identify these suspects in those has obviously improved. They have done a good job identifying these suspects to be able to hold them accountable,” Koch said.
Ryan Kearney, the operations captain for the Birmingham Police Department, said that another reason the crime rates are lower than the three-year average is because of the spike in crime following the pandemic.
“Coming out of COVID, crimes kind of jumped, and I think they are kind of leveling off a little bit,” Kearney said.
In general, his observation holds up to the statistics of past trends. While the numbers fluctuate every year, and there are some years that are higher than others, the three-year average listed in the 2020 annual report — factoring in offenses from 2020, 2019 and 2018 — was 316.
The annual report also includes a message from Birmingham Police Department Chief Scott Grewe, personnel changes, community engagement and patrol operations.
To view the full report online, visit bhamgov.org.
