Riverhead police report 100 criminal incidents in February, shoplifting tops list

Shoplifting and drunken driving did more to define Riverhead’s February crime picture than any single violent offense, even as the town’s total criminal incidents fell to 100 from 135 in February 2025.

The monthly police report, released April 27, shows 24 shoplifting incidents, 17 driving-under-the-influence cases and 15 simple assaults among the busiest categories. Property damage and vandalism accounted for 9 reports, intimidation for 7, drug or narcotic violations for 5, thefts from motor vehicles for 4 and identity thefts for 4. Police also logged 3 aggravated assaults, 2 burglaries, 2 thefts from buildings, 2 weapon-law violations and 2 other larceny counts.

The year-over-year comparison suggests Riverhead saw fewer retail theft cases, but more impaired-driving enforcement. Shoplifting fell from 38 incidents in February 2025 to 24 in February 2026, while DUI cases rose from 7 to 17. That shift matters because it points to a crime mix that is changing rather than disappearing: fewer theft calls, but more incidents that can put drivers, pedestrians and other motorists at risk on town roads.

Police said they filed 58 criminal charges in the month, made 54 arrests on the most common charge categories and held 29 people for arraignment. The department also handled 46 domestic incidents, 2,743 total incidents and 149 motor-vehicle accidents in February, while issuing 1,053 summonses. Those numbers show a department doing far more than making arrests; traffic enforcement, domestic calls and minor offenses all continued to drive the workload.

Riverhead police completed its shift to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System in July 2024, and the February figures were reported in that format, which is also used by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. That makes the monthly report more detailed than older summary counts and gives residents a clearer view of where the pressure points are, from shoplifting at retail locations and theft from vehicles to repeated nuisance calls and crash response.

The longer trend still points to improvement in some areas. From June through September 2025, Riverhead logged 628 crimes, down from 849 in the same stretch of 2024. Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard has said he would not cut back on public safety in the 2026 tentative budget, and Chief Ed Frost has said the department was adequately staffed. Even so, February’s numbers show that Riverhead’s safety picture remains uneven: less crime overall, but persistent calls tied to theft, impairment and everyday disorder.