Auburn Police have had a busy year to date, but statistics show a decrease in crime compared to last year.

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, police responded to two homicides, 49 robberies, 52 forcible rapes, 71 sex offenses, 87 aggravated assaults, 587 simple assaults, 160 burglaries and 268 auto thefts across all six of its north and south patrol districts.

According to a report from the department, police respond to an average of 165 calls per day across the districts, a 5.09 decrease compared to last year. The report also shows a decrease in crime across all categories except forcible rape, which stayed the same.

The APD also took 32 shooting reports, among them two homicides, 10 incidents with injuries reported — including two self-inflicted shootings — and nine shootings limited to property damage.

Thus according to the APD’s 2023-2025 Public Safety and Crime Statistics Update, which Auburn Police Assistant Chief Sam Betz presented to the Auburn City Council at the Oct. 13 study session.

“Let’s be clear, if there is one on here, in any of these categories, it is not good. We recognize that. We acknowledge that. That is a person or people that were impacted by a crime,” Betz said. “It’s not good, but we are very happy with the progress we have made as a community, as far as looking at these numbers.”

Minimum daily staffing is seven officers from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., and six from 2 a.m to 11 a.m., according to the report. Daily staffing numbers do not include other assignments, such as officers working other uniform assignments during the day, such as school resource officers, bicycle patrol, The Outlet Collection and the Crisis Response Team, a police unit trained to de-escalate mental health crises and connect individuals with mental health services.

It should come as no surprise, however, that the APD is not yet fully staffed. As of Oct. 13, there are still a total of 10 vacancies throughout the department, although it has filled 118 out of 128 commissioned officer positions. Five officers are completing field training, six are at the state police academy, and officers are waiting to attend. All of those who haven’t started yet should begin their academy training by mid-November.

“We have one spot in every academy class guaranteed and then we get officers into the academy classes very, very quickly so it’s become much more efficient than it was, say two years ago, where we were waiting 11 months,” Betz said.

Juvenile crime remains a regional issue, according to the report. Juveniles involved in criminal activity in Auburn are often involved in criminal activity regionally. Auburn Police share information and resources with surrounding agencies to address subjects causing community safety concerns across the region.

Here, the juvenile crime statistics for the years 2021, 2023 and 2025: In addition to one homicide involving juveniles in 2021, there were 28 robberies, 13 sex offenses and 88 aggravated assaults; in 2023 there was one homicide in addition to 41 robberies, 10 sex offenses and 156 aggravated assaults; and in 2025 year-to-date, the city has seen one homicide, 25 robberies, 15 sex offenses and 19 aggravated assaults.

State law does not allow law enforcement to interview juvenile suspects without consulting an attorney. Police may interview juvenile witnesses, but not if there is any potential of their involvement in criminal activity.

The report also notes the APD’s increasing use of technology, including Flock surveillance cameras, which are an automated license plate reader system developed by Flock Safety that uses AI to capture and read vehicle license plates and other identifying information. Police, businesses, and homeowners associations use them to deter crime, gather evidence and monitor traffic.

The APD says Flock cameras allow the department access to regional intelligence to help with community safety concerns. Police have filed charges in 68 of the 164 total cases involving Flock cameras, which, in addition to homicide, assault, and robbery cases, police have employed in burglaries, eludings, and possession of stolen vehicle cases.

“It’s really a critical access to regional intelligence,” Betz said while describing a recent arrest made thanks to a notification by Flock. “This has been an absolute game-changer. Five years ago, we would not have had this knowledge.”

Critics of the cameras cite concerns about widespread surveillance, data privacy, and the potential for misuse of the Flock camera’s technology, with some communities questioning the effectiveness and civil liberties implications of the system, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Institute for Justice.

Auburn City Councilmember Tracy Taylor asked Betz about the belief that many people are not reporting crimes as often, which can show as a overall decrease in crime. Betz said he doesn’t believe that to be true.

“I haven’t heard a circumstance that would validate that comment in my experience, so far,” Betz said.

Auburn City Councilmember Yolanda Trout-Manuel said she disagrees because she has heard from many of her constituents that they don’t report crimes due to the amount of time it takes for a police officer to respond. She said she encourages them to call in for the police to better know where crime is happening. Betz said he challenges anyone who has not reported a crime for any reason to email him and he would be “more than happy” to have officers address it.

Betz said they have increased the emphasis for officers to recognize a “priority one” call and dispatch resources as quickly as possible to those calls.

“If there is a delay in response, it very well could be because of the priority of the calls to 911 because for a priority four, there is probably going to be a slower response than a priority one if we have all of our officers on a priority one call,” Betz said. “There’s a lot of nuances to that.”