Auburn Police report for 2024: Crime and homelessness are down

Auburn Police Chief Bryan Morrison presented his 2024 annual report to the Auburn City Council during its meeting Monday evening. Morrison started his presentation by talking about the dedicated men and women of the department and what was accomplished during in 2024. "Through their tireless efforts, unwavering dedication, to serve the community of Auburn, we all experienced an overall decrease in crime," Morrison said. The first item the chief listed was the hiring of new reserve officers and dispatchers and bringing in volunteers in an effort to enhance the department's youth community service relations. From January to July 2024, Morrison said there were seven new hires and two promotions in the department. "Most of those new hires were through the reserve program and volunteers," Morrison said. The department hired a new officer in early 2024, the chief noted. The officers attended roughly 50 community outreach events. The department also saw an increase on social media, Morrison told the council. In 2023, the department had about 19,500 social media followers. In 2024, there were 21,000. There was considerable emphasis and effort put into the department's training efforts, Morrison continued. The result was officers logging more than 1,000 hours. "It's important to send staff to various trainings that, in particular, relate to their areas of professionalism and areas that they are focused on," Morrison said. Morrison moved over to crime statistics for 2024, stating there were 1,243 criminal cases. Crimes such as DUIs and disorderly conduct, often referred to as "crimes against society," decreased by 59 percent, Morrison said. Property and non-violent crimes such as theft, vandalism and burglaries declined by about 41 percent, Morrison said. He also noted crimes against people dropped by 17 percent. "Overall, most of those criminal stats that we looked at show a decrease altogether," Morrison told the council. The number of arrests also went down by 14 percent, and felony arrests went down 25 percent. Misdemeanor arrests went down 8 percent. The department has been tracking the residency of people who have been arrested in the city of Auburn. Morrison pointed out that more than one-third of those arrested had a city address, another one-third had county addresses and little under one-third had an address outside of Placer County. The police department responded to 20,758 calls in 2024. Morrison told the council 490 were alarm calls, 381 were welfare checks and 304 were for parking violations. Some alarm calls were repeat offenders, and the department sent notices to businesses of violations of false alarms, resolved the matter or could face "administrative citation" to resolve the matter. Of 2,900 surveys sent out, Morrison noted 90 percent provided the department with a positive satisfaction score. "Almost 1,900 had positive response," Morrison said. The chief stated the average blood-alcohol content of people who were pulled over for DUIs in the city was a staggering .197, which is twice beyond the legal limit. That statistic is similar to 2023. The city's homeless count dropped from 26 in 2023 to 19 in 2024 and this year, the number is at 14, Morrison stated. The department made efforts to help the homeless by notifying them about resources for people who are looking to get off the streets. Auburn Mayor Sandy Amara thanked Morrison for the report and said she was "very impressed." She noted liking the report and felt crime has gone down. Amara mentioned the city used to have a meter-maid program that she would like to see brought back one day. "Seeing officers on bicycles going through town would be wonderful, too," Amara said. City councilmember Alice Dowdin Calvillo also appreciated the time Morrison displayed in the presentation.