Raleigh police release 2025 crime stats, outline 2026 priorities

The Raleigh Police Department’s 2025 annual crime tables show a mixed picture: total violent crime fell 1% from 8,610 to 8,541 while total property crime dropped 17% from 14,200 to 11,758, yet homicide incidents increased 4%, from 27 to 28. Traffic fatalities ticked down 3% to 37, according to the city’s tables and summaries circulated with the department’s annual data.

The city’s full-year numbers show motor vehicle thefts declined 32% from 2,444 in 2024 to 1,664 in 2025, but recovered stolen vehicles also fell 37%, from 2,306 to 1,464. WTVD reported a 43% dip in car thefts during the last quarter and said more than 300 cars were recovered in that period, a quarter-level snapshot that can coexist with the city’s lower annual recovered-vehicle total but requires quarterly data to reconcile precisely.

Operational activity at RPD increased even as some crime counts fell. Calls for service rose 7% to 323,369 and 911-initiated calls rose 5% to 179,483, while completed traffic stops increased 15% to 49,483. Incident reports fell 7% to 70,671 and physical arrests rose 2% to 8,653. The divergence between rising calls and falling incident reports raises questions about recording practices and workload; the city tables list these figures without an accompanying methodology narrative in the excerpt provided.

RPD’s tables show non-fatal shooting incidents down 13% to 79 and non-fatal shooting victims down 9% to 92, while aggravated non-firearm assaults fell 12% to 1,018. Robberies declined 9% to 394 and larceny from vehicles dropped 27% to 2,844, driving part of the overall property-crime decrease. At the same time, recovered stolen vehicles and other enforcement metrics such as firearms confiscated edged down 3% to 1,435, and recovered vehicles fell sharply.

Looking ahead, the department’s “Looking Ahead to 2026” bullets in the city material emphasize expansion of ConnectRaleigh, RPD’s community video-sharing program, and continuation of Community Police Academies. The ConnectRaleigh description notes that community members register security cameras and that the program is supported by the Raleigh Police Department Foundation. WTVD quoted Mayor Janet Cowell saying, “I think the property crimes going down, we had a motor vehicle task force that was very effective,” and adding, “We have had this connect camera program where every day residents who have all these ring cameras, you know, other things that they're using, they can register those and if there is something that happens near your house or, you know, in your neighborhood, they could call up and try to get that footage that is helping us solve almost 100% of homicides in the city.”

Public skepticism appeared in social media reactions captured by CBS 17, where a user named Jiminy Grillon wrote, “The RPD stopped reporting violent crime by reclassification and by ending the comp-stat program. They are able to manipulate simply by not reporting it. Do your homework CBS 17 Stop acting like a PR firm and start investigating before you pass information off as accurate.” CBS 17’s video transcript summarized the city figures as “violent crime is down 1%, property crime is down 17%, and deadly traffic incidents are down 3%. However, homicides have gone up uh 4% from 2024 to 2025.”

Not all sources show the same publication timing. An original summary states the RPD published its annual data summary on February 19, 2026. CBS 17 posted a related video on February 18, 2026 and WTVD published an article on February 5, 2026. The released materials lack precinct-level breakdowns and a full methodology note in the excerpt provided, and they do not include a quoted statement from the police chief. Key follow-up questions for the department include quarterly recovered-vehicle figures, the definition of recovered stolen vehicles, and whether any reporting classification changes occurred between 2024 and 2025 that would affect year-over-year comparisons.