Sioux Falls crime activity largely stable — with some exceptions

Overall crime in the city of Sioux Falls appears to have remained fairly stable in the past year, with a few exceptions.

One of the more concerning changes for the safety of residents is in the suicide rate, Mayor Paul TenHaken said in a semiannual report to the community today.

Through August, there have been 26 suicides reported in the city, up from 15 for the same period last year and 18 in the first eight months in both 2020 and 2021.

“That’s a very concerning trend,” TenHaken said. “I just want to remind the community that there’s a lot of resources out there on this.”

The designated 988 number can be the place to start for people with thoughts of suicide or other mental health challenges, he said.

Looking at overall calls for law enforcement service for the first eight months of the year, the volume has held steady with previous years despite population growth, Police Chief Jon Thum said.

The difference is an “increase in complexity of calls,” he said. “We are just having more calls that require more manpower, more person power, more issues.”

Homicides have dropped from a record in 2020. There have been two so far this year, the same as in the prior two years. In 2020, there were 13 homicides for the year.

Thum called the statistic “low for a community our size,” adding that “even those numbers have some nuance to them. … Each case is a different story with different circumstances.”

The number of assaults is up, which Thum said is consistent with nationwide trends. Domestic cases — at least those that have been reported — have dropped, which he credits to nonprofits in Sioux Falls such as the Children’s Home Shelter for Family Safety and The Compass Center “as far as supporting the victims of domestic violence, making sure they have the steps they need to get out of unhealthy situations.”

While there was a 14 percent increase in crimes committed with a gun, most of it is among “known associates,” he said.

“The amount of crime toward random people remains very, very low in our community,” Thum said. “The willingness and ability to use weapons among people now is at a higher rate.”

There’s also a concerning increase of guns found with youths 16 or even younger, he said.

“It’s the accessibility and availability.”

The number of reported rapes is consistent with last year after peaking in 2020 and 2021.

Robberies have dropped slightly after a spike last year, and “we’re seeing a little bit of a decrease in the person-to-person stuff we’d seen around town,” Thum said, while noting it’s “still higher than we’d like to see.”

The trend in stolen vehicles keeps climbing, and there’s a familiar theme: In May and June, police found 82 percent of the cases involved cars with keys left in them.

Thum said the department will continue to post reminders at night on social media to lock vehicles, and he encouraged citizens who see the posts to share them, calling it “a community-wide issue we can all work on.”

Drug seizures showed a large increase in cocaine, though the data is skewed by spikes related to large seizures, Thum said.

Meth seizures are on par with last year, while overdose cases and deaths are “defying national trends,” Thum said, crediting the nonprofit Emily’s Hope for raising awareness of the issue.

“If you’re taking a drug not from a pharmacist, I want you to assume there’s fentanyl in it,” he said. “Assume it’s dangerous. Only one time can be the only time.”