Crime decline in Springfield compared to 2023

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (KY3) – At Monday night's Springfield City Council meeting, Police Chief Paul Williams presented data from the first half of 2024 compared to 2023 that suggests overall crime in the city has declined.

“This is the tail end of a three-stage downward trend,” Williams said. “Crime has been declining since 2021, so I expect it to level off at some point, and I think we're getting close to that new baseline.”

According to Williams, citing data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, crimes against persons are down 3.3% compared to the first six months of 2023. The data shows that there have been two murder and manslaughter crimes so far this year, compared to eight last year. There has been just one involuntary manslaughter this year, compared to three last year. But again, the details get a little fuzzy.

A look at the Springfield Police Department website shows that officers have investigated four murders. NIBRS data defines murder as: “The killing of one human being by another.” As it turns out, police were actually investigating four murders as of June. In total, five people were killed in these cases. However, NIBRS breaks these murders down into different categories.

Of the four homicides, two were classified as murder and manslaughter, one as manslaughter, and the other as justifiable homicide, which is defined as “the killing of an offender of a serious crime by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty or the killing of the offender during the commission of a serious crime by a private citizen.” This case stemmed from a robbery in which two people were killed. According to Springfield police, this case is still under investigation.

Property crimes also decreased in some areas. Burglaries fell by 4.7 percent and robberies by 8.7 percent. However, welfare fraud, for example, increased by 66.7 percent and shoplifting increased by 36.8 percent.

Car thefts are down. In fact, they are 16.4% lower than last year, but Williams said he believes the numbers are inaccurate.

“I've double and triple checked these numbers because this is a result of a 30 to 40 percent reduction over the last two years,” Williams said. “And I'm happy to report that these numbers are accurate.”

According to Chief Williams, figures from the last four years show that car thefts have decreased by almost 50%.

The numbers also show that officers made more arrests for drug violations such as heroin, opioids and methamphetamine. Williams also said there was some good news regarding drug use.

“Overdose deaths have dropped dramatically,” Williams said. “So fewer people are being harmed. There's a combination of factors that are causing this. First, we're implementing aggressive interventions and having Narcan available throughout the community, not just at medical providers, is helping to prevent some of these cases.”

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