Violent crime down in Cedar Rapids in 2024

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cases of violent crime — including murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault — significantly decreased in 2024 in Cedar Rapids, and police are anticipating similar numbers again this year with the help of technology that includes the addition of several license plate reading cameras.

“This is the product of dedicated officers that go out and do their job day in and day out, to protect and provide a secure community to live in, to work, and to just enjoy,” Police Chief David Dostal said. “The other nice thing about a lot of this success, too, I firmly believe, is the community involvement with our community partners, nonprofits and the community in general that cooperate with us.”

Shots fired and violent crime

In total, there were 365 cases of violent crime in 2024, down from 434 in 2023 — a decline of almost 16 percent. The average for the past five years was 428 cases of violent crime per year.

There also was a decrease in shots fired calls in the city, dropping from 81 in 2023 to only 49 calls in 2024. The five-year average is 117 a year.

There was a single murder case in the city in 2024. A woman was arrested in February on charges she fatally stabbed the father of her then-unborn child. She is charged with domestic abuse assault and second-degree murder and faces a trial in April.

There were increases reported in a few categories, including cases of weapons-related crime — which includes illegal possession of weapons, possessing a firearm as a felon, illegal use of a firearm and trafficking in stolen weapons. There were 197 cases of weapons-related crime in 2024, up from 181 in 2023 and 141 in 2022.

Dostal said he believes the increase is an indication that officers are being proactive about finding illegal weapons and making arrests before those weapons can be used.

“Those are weapons that individuals should not have, and we’re actually getting them off the street so it makes the street safer. So, that is, I think, in correlation with the drop in shots fired and violent crime,” he said.

“The other thing is we have a great relationship with the Linn County Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution of cases that are presented. Many times, we’re getting great convictions on the cases, and that ends up taking away individuals that participate in some of this activity.”

License plate reading cameras

Dostal said he hopes to see similarly low numbers for violent crime and shots fired calls this year, and he believes combining officer work with more technology makes investigations more efficient.

One technological change already in progress is the installation of 70 automated license plate reading cameras around the city. These cameras are designed to scan license plates on cars that drive by — then run the information through police databases for reports of stolen vehicles, arrest warrants and missing people. If a match is found, the system alerts officers.

License plate readers have become more popular around the state in recent years, with the University of Iowa police department installing 28 of them in 2023, and Marshalltown installing 32 last year.

Cedar Rapids has had two license plate reader cameras attached to squad cars since 2016, but these new cameras will be placed in stationary locations. Of the 70 cameras, 61 have been installed and are being used by the police department.

The City Council in June approved a two-year contract for $499,250 with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company, to install and operate the cameras.

“It’s a force multiplier for us going out as officers, because we can’t be in every place at every time. I think that is huge assistance that will help us deter crime,” Dostal said.

Other increases in 2024 crime report

Other criminal cases that increased in 2024 include cases of sex abuse against minors, crimes against community peace and retail shoplifting.

There were 47 cases of sex abuse against minors in 2024, up from 28 in 2023 and a five-year average of 39. Dostal said this change also could be due to an increase in proactive police work, as the department has been focused on catching child predators.

“We are doing an investigation, and I don’t want to get into too many details, but we are actually looking at going after individuals that are soliciting children,” Dostal said.

There were 799 crimes against community peace — which includes interference with official acts with injury, simple interference with official acts and disorderly conduct — in 2024, up from 697 in 2023. The five-year average is 644 cases annually.

Dostal said arrests for crimes against community peace tend to happen when officers respond to a disturbance in which emotions are running high or individuals are under the influence of something, and those individuals don’t comply with officer demands or get involved in an arrest of another person.

“I think some of that is just an increase in large gatherings in certain areas, and that results in a lot of drinking and a lot of disturbances, and individuals that don’t want to comply with what an officer is asking,” Dostal said.

There were 1,532 cases of shoplifting in the city in 2024, up from 1,238 in 2023. The five-year average for shoplifting annually is 979. The police department encourages retailers who see lots of shoplifting to secure high-value merchandise and to use visible cameras to deter the thefts and make it easier for police to investigate thefts after they happen.

Dostal said the increase in recorded shoplifting cases could indicate that businesses are reporting those thefts more often. Some businesses have started encouraging employees not to make contact with people who are stealing, for their own safety, but rather to make sure they are on camera and report the theft to the police later.

Ongoing data reports

Starting in November 2024, the police department began a new initiative to publicly release crime statistics each month in six categories the department believes give “the best picture of where the city stands with regard to crime.”

Those categories are homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, theft from vehicle, theft of vehicle and shots fired. Those ongoing data reports will be posted to the department’s social media pages.

“I wanted to put out information specifically in these six categories to be transparent, and also just to show that these are the areas that we’re mainly, not only concerned about, but that they are areas of concern,” Dostal said. “I just think it’s information that … the public doesn’t normally get, so on a consistent basis, near the first part of the month, I want to release all that information, just so community members can see that this is what’s happening around the city.”

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