SAN ANTONIO – Overall crime in San Antonio fell more than 13% in 2025, according to data presented Tuesday by SAPD Chief William McManus to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee.
The San Antonio Police Department reported 124,314 crimes from January through November 2025, which is down from 143,529 reported during the same period in 2024.
“Nothing but good news, as far as the crime stats go,” McManus told council members.
Violent crime on the decline
Crimes against people, which is often referred to as violent crime. dropped 9% compared with the same January-through-November period last year — falling from 31,179 cases in 2024 to 28,361 in 2025.
Police reported declines across nearly every major violent crime category. Assaults fell 9% to 26,750 cases, while homicides dropped nearly 17%, from 119 to 99 cases.
Human trafficking cases declined 31.3%. Additionally, kidnappings were cut in half, falling from 84 to 42 cases in 2025.
Sex offenses also declined, dropping about 7.6% to 1,459 cases this year.
Police officials said the overall decrease in violent crime was driven largely by reductions in assaults, homicides and human trafficking.
Property crime sees steepest drop
Crimes against property showed the largest decrease, falling 18.1% from 100,457 cases in 2024 to 82,232 in 2025.
Motor vehicle theft declined 26.5%, while vandalism cases dropped nearly 30%. Robberies fell 16.4%. Larceny and theft offenses decreased 14.4%.
Burglary declined 4% and fraud offenses dropped just north of 9%. Police also reported significant decreases in arson, extortion and embezzlement cases.
Crimes against society rise amid enforcement efforts
Crimes against society increased 15.4%, rising from 11,892 cases last year to 13,721 this year. The increase was driven primarily by drug and narcotics violations, which rose more than 21% on its own to 11,307 cases.
McManus said the rise reflects increased enforcement activity rather than an increase in criminal behavior.
“Because they’re up, everybody thinks it’s a bad thing,” McManus said. “They’re up because we’re making more arrests in those areas.”
Weapons law violations declined 6.3% while prostitution cases dropped more than 36%. Animal cruelty cases also experienced a slight decrease.
Assistant Chief Jesse Salame said crime trends are influenced by multiple factors.
“There is never really one factor that points to crime going down,” Salame said.
Faster response times, fewer calls
Police also reported improvements in response times and call volume. SAPD received fewer emergency and non-emergency calls in 2025 compared to the previous two years.
Average emergency response times improved to 5 minutes, 29 seconds, down from 5:56 in 2024 and 6:20 in 2023. Non-emergency response times dropped to 18:35, the fastest reported in at least three years.
McManus credited the improvements to increased staffing.
“Two ways to decrease response times are to add more officers and reduce the number of calls we respond to,” McManus said. “We’ve been adding officers.”
SAPD officials cautioned that crime data reported through the National Incident-Based Reporting System is not final and may be updated throughout the year due to reclassification, ongoing investigations or delayed victim reporting.
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