Grand Rapids has seen a marked decrease in car thefts and robberies so far in 2025, reported Grand Rapids Interim Police Chief Joe Trigg at Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting. Persons shot thus far in 2026 exceed 2025 levels, but are down from 2023 and 2024.
Trigg repeatedly credited the general decrease in crime to increased staffing at Grand Rapids Police Department.
Between January and May of this year, 12 individuals have been shot, five fatally across two incidents.
Trigg noted that half of the homicide victims in 2026 have been children.
“Although any life lost is a tragedy, definitely when it involves our young people, it always sits a little bit different,” Trigg said. “And it’s why we want to do the work as a city and make sure we can try to limit this as much as possible.”
During the same time period in 2025, 10 people were shot, one fatally.
The number of people shot has fallen from 2024, when there were 18 incidents in the first five months of the year. Only two of those were fatal. In 2023, 27 people were shot between January and May, with seven fatalities.
GRPD has arrested suspects in all six homicides this year. The department’s clearance rate was 71% in 2025, 77% in 2024, 75% in 2023, and 77% in 2022. National clearance rates are at 55%.
“It’s accountability, because I think it’s something that drives crime down more than anything. Word spreads,” Trigg said. “If you commit a crime in this city, there’s just going to be accountability. It’s going to be addressed.”
Thefts saw an unambiguous year-over-year decline. From January to April, 108 cars were stolen, compared to 120 thefts in 2025, 270 in 2024, and 337 automobile thefts in 2023.
From January to April 2026, there were 44 robberies, down from 52 in the same time period in 2025. Robberies hit a high point in 2024, when GRPD recorded 55 between January and April.
There have been 13 recorded fatal overdoses year-to-date, and GRPD has recovered 127 illegally-possessed guns through April.
According to a GRPD spokesperson, the department has 299 sworn officers per its last count. It is currently authorized up to 312.
Grand Rapids had 292 sworn officers in 2016 and 295 in 2018, according to MLive. In 2020, GRPD posted on Facebook that it had 297 sworn officers. The spokesperson said at one point during previous Chief Eric Winstrom’s tenure, GRPD had to address a deficit of about 40 officers.
After the presentation, members of the committee discussed measures to prevent violence, like the double homicide, and thanked GRPD for its response. City Manager Mark Washington highlighted summer programming opportunities for Grand Rapids youth to prevent violence.
“Hopefully, that will help prevent some of the unnecessary lives lost, in addition to good patrol and presence with the police department having their full staffing,” Washington said, thanking police.
Mayor David LaGrand called on citizens to alert police if they know about illegal gun ownership to prevent instances like the double homicide earlier this month.
Committee member Jim Davis thanked GRPD and Grand Rapids Public Schools for their professionalism and coordination after the double homicide, which took place near Southwest Elementary School.
Write to juliana@grherald.com.