Town Hall Meeting Discusses Changes Needed to Help Ensure Public Safety [Part II, Latest Crime Numbers]

This is the second installment of reporting on the Town Hall Meeting held at City Hall on January 23, 2025. Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story presented information ranging from the current state of criminal law in New Mexico to recent crime statistics. Las Cruces Digest will be breaking the reporting of this content down into a series over the next few days. It was a lot of information, and time should be taken to break it down into more manageable segments.

To begin his presentation, Chief Story provided some historical data to function as a foundation for his call to action. Keep in mind, this was not simply an informative presentation. As will be presented in later installments, this Town Hall served as a platform to encourage citizens to reach out to lawmakers now in session in Santa Fe, in hopes that a solution can found to a criminal justice environment plagued by a judiciary bound by a feckless legal framework.

The Town Hall Meeting is linked, below. Also provided are the email addresses to each State Senator and Representative responsible for representing our broader community.

Subscribe to the Daily Las Cruces Digest

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name *How would you like to be addressed in personalized emails?

/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Local Crime Statistics Presented in Town Hall Meeting:

2024 Violent Crime

The number that draws the most attention is the number of homicide cases in 2024. 17 as compared to 10 a year prior is a significant increase. Chief Story mentioned “10” as being a baseline they hope to return to.

Violent Crime
5-Year Trend

Chief Story noted a 20% increase in violent crime over the past 5 years. He noted a brief respite in 2023 before returning to 2021 and 2022 levels this past year.

Property Crime
5-Year Trend

Total Crime
5-Year Trend

Total Crime
Year-Over-Year Change

Vandalism Cases
5-Year Total Cases Per Year Line Chart

Troubling Arrest Trends
5-Year Compound Bar Chart

(Blue: Aggravated Assault, Orange: Battery on a Police Officer, Grey/Green: Auto Theft)

Calls for Service
5-Year Annual Totals

Use of Force
Instance Totals, 2-Year Trend

The statistics presented paint a pretty bleak picture for our broader community, and Chief Story explored the contributing factors to these trends. Las Cruces Digest will break those down in tomorrow’s installment:

Don’t Miss Tomorrow’s Installment: “Part III: Staffing, Ordinances and Legal Obstacles“

Article posted by:

Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.

LOCAL NEWS

-and-

LOCAL SPORTS

Vamos a chismear…

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• Mail
• Print

• February 22, 2025
  

  MORE

  NMSU students to unveil rebranded campus restaurant February 28

• February 22, 2025
  

  MORE

  Aggies Softballers Split Friday Pair in Phoenix

BACK

---