Crime Down In Early New Year After 2024 Increases

ALEXANDRIA, VA — After 100 days since taking over the Alexandria Police Department, Police Chief Tarrick McGuire provided an update on decreasing crime in the city and progress on his goals.

McGuire, who was appointed police chief as of Nov. 25, 2024, spoke to City Council Tuesday about his priorities for his first 100 days as well as updates on crime data and developing a public safety plan.

Overall crime was up 2 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to preliminary data reported by the police chief. Violent crimes — the combination of homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — are down 6.3 percent. Nuisance crimes, which include vandalism, drug and narcotic offenses, prostitution, gambling, disorderly conduct, DUI, public drunkenness and liquor law violations, decreased by 9.3 percent.

Property crimes — larceny, burglary and vehicle theft — were up 9.5 percent in 2024. McGuire said larceny and shoplifting contributed to the increase, as vehicle thefts and burglaries went down. The 2024 crime data is still being finalized and will be released after the police department reports data to the FBI.

However, the police chief noted crime is overall down in the first quarter of 2025. All types of crime decreased 25.3 percent from January through March. Violent crimes are down 43.6 percent, property crimes are down 23.6 percent and nuisance crimes are down 36.5 percent.

"It's because of the hard work of our officers. It's because of the community collaboration," said McGuire. "We've still got work to do, and we're going to keep moving forward."

Although McGuire said crime was trending down, he noted the perception of safety may not be the same for everyone.

"If you've been the victim of a crime regardless of what the crime numbers say, it impacts your life personally, and sometimes it has traumatic effects," said McGuire.

Mayor Alyia Gaskins noted that female business owners on King Street have been victims of larceny, and the city has received some requests about how to set up stores to promote safety.

The police chief noted there was a dip in calls for police service during the COVID-19 pandemic, but those numbers have increased year to year. Calls for service increased from 70,836 in 2023 to 72,067 in 2024, not quite at the pre-pandemic level of 80,928 in 2019.

One way Alexandria Police have resolved investigations is through its license plate reading technology. The license plate readers aided with 200 criminal arrests, recovering 108 stolen vehicles, recovering 11 illegal guns and finding 11 missing people.

One recent example happened on March 31. When license plate technology informed an officer of a stolen vehicle, a traffic stop followed. That led to an arrest of an attempted murder suspect from Maryland. The police chief said the suspect may have remained at large without the technology.

"Every single say in our community people are entering from other areas of Virginia, they're entering from the DC metro area, they're entering from PG County and our officers know due to this technology when someone enters into our city if the vehicle is stolen or if they are wanted," said McGuire.

The police chief also highlighted the safety threat posed by crashes. Among 4,430 total crashes in 2024, three fatalities were reported at Duke and Ripley Streets, N. Jordan Street and Taney Avenue, and the Landmark construction site.

In 2024, McGuire said Alexandria Police conducted 10,763 traffic stops, issuing 1,456 in-person citations and 2,350 warnings. There were also 6,438 e-citations, which could refer to automated enforcement like speed cameras. The city recently announced new speed cameras for additional school zones.

"The department continues to be committed to [Vision Zero] as we move forward in 2025," said McGuire. "Our traffic enforcement efforts are discussed on a weekly basis, we're identifying high-crash locations within our city, and we're utilizing data and evidence to deploy our resources."

At Tuesday's meeting, McGuire said the police department has implemented a 60-Day Public Safety Plan, which sends officers to areas with increases in crime. The police department identified six "micro-areas" to work on.

"When you drive down King Street and you see our officers with their lights on in hot spots for temporary amounts of time, when you see them exiting their vehicles or walking in stores now, they are communicating with store owners what are some of their top items being stolen," said McGuire.

The police chief told City Council the department is also working on developing a five-year public safety plan in partnership with George Mason University, considering long-term crime trends.

Assessing Police Chief's First 100 Days

McGuire also provided City Council with an update on his 100-Day Action Plan, which outlines goals to support the police department's employees and make Alexandria one of the country's safest cities. The police chief held listening sessions, both with police officers and Conversations with the Chief in the community to understand key concerns.

The police chief noted that police officers believe the department does well with community engagement, camaraderie with fellow officers, and working with the community to solve crimes. Area of improvement sought by the employees included better work-life balance, better communications from the department, and investments in employee wellness.

"I think the bottom line is that the healthier that our officers are, the better served that they are when they come to work and they serve our community," said McGuire.

Things community members said the police department does well with responsiveness and timely responses to calls. However, community members want to see police officers out of their vehicles and conducting foot patrols more, increased traffic enforcement and more youth engagement.

According to the police department, the police chief's key achievements in the first 100 days included:

• Implementing a crime review process using evidence-based policing to work on focused interventions, decision-making based on data and deploying police resources.
• Evaluating key leadership vacancies and doing a workload analysis of department units to efficiency in the police department.
• Alexandria Police leadership conducted site visits to several law enforcement agencies to deepen relationships and evaluate the crime review process for those organizations, providing a model to improve responses to emerging crime trends.
• Evaluating policies and practices to develop a work plan on applying fairness and consistency to personnel's opportunities for advancement, promotions and discipline.
• Reaffirming commitment to the 30x30 Initiative, which addresses underrepresentation of women in law enforcement.
• Evaluating patrol shift schedules to support work-life balance for police officers.
• Creating a Chief’s Employee Advisory Board for conversations between city staff and the police chief.
• Creating a Chief’s Community Advisory Board to represent the community voice, with community stakeholders from civil rights organizations, businesses, civic organizations and religious institutions.
• Implementing an improved communications plan, including a chief's brief, for internal updates to employees.
• Establishing an Officer Wellness Advisory Group of sworn officers and professional staff to identify resources to help officers manage stress, physical and mental health.
• Launching a pilot mentoring program, Alexandria Initiative on Mentoring to support social-emotional well-being of sixth and seventh graders at George Washington Middle School.

On additional youth engagement, McGuire said officers are meeting with youth in Virginia high schools over the next nine weeks and hope to expand the mentoring program into the summer.

The full report is available on the police department's website.