The Dayton Police Department said it has seen dramatic reductions in some of its property crimes since the early 2000s.
The department also said the increases in some specific crime categories reflect proactive law enforcement activities. Proactive policing typically is about preventing crime, and crime levels sometimes fluctuate because of increased enforcement.
“We are always monitoring crime trends and patterns to try to provide information to the community and deploy resources to address these issues,” a Dayton Police statement said, in response to Dayton Daily News questions. “While we pay attention to yearly increases and decreases and can make adjustments accordingly, we typically will focus more on longer term trends, such as over a five-year period.”
Overall crime
Dayton Police Department data indicate the city had about 20,340 recorded crimes last year, which was 1,430 more incidents than in 2022 (+8%).
Dayton also saw an 8% increase in crime in 2022, and crime reports increased 20% in 2021.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
The city had 34 homicides and incidents of non-negligent manslaughter in 2023 — one more than in 2022 and four more than in 2021.
Dayton police also recorded 155 aggravated robberies (+9% from 2022) and 547 aggravated assaults (+3%). Aggravated assaults include shootings and violent attacks.
The city had 164 incidents of shootings into habitations, which was 37 more than in 2022 (+29%).
Police documented 1,207 menacing offenses (+28%), 876 drug and narcotic violations (+11%) and 144 incidents of swindles, confidence games and false pretenses (+23%).
Not all crimes were up. Rape offenses (160 in 2023) dropped by 25%, going back down to 2021 levels after a major spike in 2022.
Arson also dropped by 16% in 2023, according to DPD statistics, from 50 incidents to 42. Kidnapping/abduction dropped from 95 to 76 incidents (a 20% reduction).
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
On Sept. 20, Dayton police responded to South Jefferson Street and East Fourth Street in downtown Dayton after receiving reports about shots fired. Police discovered that a male had been shot twice in his leg, and that a female suffered a gunshot wound to the hand, a police report states.
Witnesses told police that someone in the backseat of a silver SUV fired at least 10 shots at a group of people who were on their way to the Greater Dayton RTA bus hub.
Following the drive-by shooting, Dayton police Chief Kamran Afzal said fortunately the victims would fully recover, but that this was a serious and dangerous event in a part of the city where these kinds of violent acts are fairly rare.
Examples of crime incidents
Weekly police reports show that last fall a 14-year-old in West Dayton was shot in the arm while walking down the street and a delivery driver’s vehicle was stolen at gunpoint.
A man was robbed after he arranged a meet-up to buy back his stolen minibike and a pizza delivery driver’s food items were taken by force.
Last month, a juvenile stole a cellphone and some money from a woman on South Jefferson Street, according to police. The suspect grabbed the woman’s arm and demanded her cell phone password, which she provided.
On Christmas Eve, a woman was confronted by an unknown suspect as she walked home on Ringgold Street in East Dayton, weekly police reports state. The suspect slapped her twice in the face after she said she didn’t have any money.
Auto thefts
Auto thefts have soared in Dayton in the last two years, owing primarily to a wave of stolen Hyundais and Kias due to a security defect.
Dayton had 1,546 car thefts in 2022 — up from 842 from the prior year (+84%). But in 2023, police recorded 2,435 auto thefts, a further increase of 58% from 2022′s already elevated number.
Car thieves have exploited security vulnerabilities in Hyundais and Kias that allow the vehicles to be hijacked with a basic USB cord.
Videos have circulated on social media that explain how to steal the vehicles in a few simple steps. Police have tried to crack down on auto theft, and carmakers have offered security upgrades, but the thievery continues.
Additionally, a significant number of cars and trucks have been stolen after the owners left the keys inside the vehicles. Many of the vehicles were unlocked.
What can be done
The Dayton Police Department says community members need to be aware of crime in their neighborhoods so they can take proactive measures to prevent some of these activities, especially property crimes.
Police said most violent crime is committed by someone the victim knows, which often means these events are harder to prevent.
Police said community members can learn about crime in their neighborhoods by visiting a crime mapping tool from LexisNexis called CommunityCrimeMap.com.
Police said they have learned that a small number of people are involved in shootings into homes. What often happens is one house will get fired upon and then someone else who is related to the victim will shoot at the suspect’s house.
“A lot of times we do not know what the root cause is behind these incidents,” police said.
But police said officers are using technology such as the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) to link evidence collected from shooting incidents. Police say this helps make connections to identify individuals who are pulling the trigger.
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