Crime in Fayetteville has declined almost 35% since 2014, Fayetteville Police Chief Kem Braden told a monthly joint meeting of the Fayetteville City Council and Cumberland County Board of Commissioners on Monday.
That said, Braden expressed concern that the crime rate will rise again because there has been a large upswing in the past two years of children and teens committing crimes, including assault, robbery, motor vehicle theft and burglaries. “These are numbers that nearly doubled from the previous year,” he said.
“I’ve boasted a lot about ‘lowest crime years in over a decade,’” Braden said. “But if these types of crimes persist, we’re gonna have problems. These juveniles eventually turn into adults. That criminal behavior — we have to get that modified and stopped before they get into the adult system.”
Braden’s comments came as the City Council and county commissioners heard reports on public safety from fire officials and law enforcement.
They were told the municipal, Fort Bragg and rural fire departments work well together and the volunteer departments would like compensation for when they respond to crashes on Interstate 95 and I-295. There was also discussion among the council members and commissioners of merging Fayetteville’s 911 system with the county’s 911 system, and of working jointly to provide a crisis intervention team to respond to people having mental health incidents instead of law enforcement officers.
The commissioners and city council members also discussed staff shortages at the Police Department, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and in the volunteer fire departments.
Crime going down in Fayetteville
Some points from Braden’s crime report:
- Fayetteville had 20,563 reported crimes in 2014. In 2024, there were 13,394. That is a 34.9% decrease in 11 years.
- Since a peak in 2015 of 4,847 reports, violent crime dropped 17%, to 3,499 in 2024.
- Since 2014, property crimes fell from 18,796 in 2014 to 9,891 in 2024, a 42% decrease.
- Among North Carolina’s 10 largest cities, Fayetteville was one of three to show a reduction in crime in 2023.
In comparing crime in 2023 to 2024:
- Total crimes reported dropped 9.7%.
- Total felony arrests went down 7%, from 2,296 in 2023 to 2,134 in 2024, a drop of 162 arrests. Braden said that when crime drops, he expects to see arrests drop.
- Homicides dropped by 48%, from 53 victims in 2023 to 27 in 2024.
- Misdemeanor arrests rose 5.6%, from 4,424 to 4,673.
Braden said reports of crimes committed by children and teenagers showed troubling trends between 2023 and 2024:
- Assaults: 152 in 2023, 245 in 2024
- Burglaries: 78 in 2023, 139 in 2024
- Robberies: 8 in 2023, 19 in 2024
- Motor vehicle thefts: 51 in 2023, 97 in 2024
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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