Sioux Falls crime-per-capita rates show sharp decline in 2025

Crime in Sioux Falls dropped in all major categories in 2025, reaching more than five-year lows in some cases.

“This is a safe community,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said, leading off the final semiannual public safety crime data briefing of his eight-year term.

“This is probably going to be one of the proudest public safety briefings that I’ve done. … I’m very very proud. … We’re leaving the city in a safe spot.”

In the past eight years, the city has added approximately 38,000 residents, so maintaining or decreasing crime per capita is key, he said.

“They’re not all choir boys,” TenHaken said.

The city’s 130,000 calls for service last year, averaging about 360 calls a day, have stayed consistent.

More strikingly, both violent crime and property crime per capita showed a big drop on a year-over-year basis. Property crime fell to 27.24 per 1,000 residents from 37.02 in 2024 — the lowest rate in more than a decade.

Violent crime dropped to 4.74 versus 5.69 — the lowest since 2018.

“It’s the result of very intentional police work, very intentional messaging campaigns … and the partner collaboration,” TenHaken said.

Homicides totaled 11 in 2025, compared with 16 in 2024 and two in 2023.

“The homicides are told by the individual stories not necessarily by a number,” Police Chief Jon Thum said, adding that they continue to not reflect random violence.

“It’s people who know each other. It’s people who have some sort of relationship.”

Aggravated and domestic assaults are down as well, as were robberies.

Cases of rape have plateaued at 69 last year, compared with 71 in 2024 and 66 in 2023.

The trend across categories “explains the decrease per capita,” Thum said. “That’s our lowest level in about six years.”

Property crimes saw a “big downward spike,” he continued. “It’s a story that needs to be highlighted.”

He pointed to a “remarkable decrease” in burglaries, which dropped to 521 from 763 in 2024.

Larceny cases fell to 4,653 from 5,961 the prior year.

Fraud cases went up for a variety of reasons, including cyber scams especially targeting seniors, fraud involving fake warrants and cryptocurrency, as well as a statewide case involving SNAP benefit fraud that had “a substantial number” of instances in Sioux Falls, Thum said.

A highlight for the department is a 44 percent decrease in stolen vehicles since 2023.

“This is substantial and seemed impossible when we came together in 2023 and talked about the meteoric rise in stolen vehicles,” Thum said, crediting a public awareness campaign and ongoing messaging about locking vehicles.

Eighty-two percent of vehicles stolen last year were unlocked. The decrease in stolen vehicles is significant not just for that crime itself but because thieves look for guns left in the vehicles they steal, he said.

“I think as a community we should be incredibly pleased,” Thum said.

Drug seizures continue to plateau or go down, particularly fentanyl, which fell substantially from the previous two years.

Supply is “much harder to come by in our community,” Thum said. “I think it’s safe to say some of the measures taken in the southern border are paying dividends for our community as the supply doesn’t get farther into the country as we saw in previous years.”

Overdose deaths also seem to have plateaued, while overall overdoses dropped last year.

“As I talk to young people, the stigma we’re creating negatively around the use of fentanyl is one we can continue to push,” Thum said.

The police chief also addressed some of the department’s newer initiatives, including the real-time information center, which helped on 559 calls for service last year and released 185 officers from dispatched responses so they could focus on other duties. The work of the center led to 64 individual arrests last year, including recovering 37 stolen vehicles and three firearms.

It also has been helpful in resolving the cause of 124 accidents, “providing a streamlined experience for people when they have the aggravation of having a car accident,” Thum said. “We’re just getting to the tip of the iceberg of this real-time information center. … Expect more successes and more solid results from us in the future.”

The Violent Crime Unit made more than 250 arrests, found 66 guns and 40 stolen vehicles last year.

“They continue to do great things, and again that ripples within other crime captions that we see,” Thum said.

The biggest complaint he receives from residents involves speeding, he added. From 2024 to 2025 in partnership with state and federal agencies, the city nearly doubled its citations to more than 1,400 issued thanks to multiple saturation events.

“We’ll continue to do those and target aggressive and unsafe driving,” Thum said. “There’s still plenty of work to do there.”

Clearance rates across categories of crime are as good as “nearly anywhere in the country,” he added. “They work very, very hard, and the clear rates we see across categories speak for themselves.”

Crime rates in Minnehaha County also trended down, said Sheriff Mike Milstead, who will be retiring after serving since 1997.

Milstead credited a level of cooperation among law enforcement partners that he said is unique nationwide.

“It’s unbelievable,” Milstead said. “It’s an incredible environment that has been growing over the years. … When you walk into our building and look at the team working there, you don’t know who’s a DCI agent or a PD officer or a deputy sheriff. They’re working together. They’re engaging in these crime investigations together. I couldn’t be more proud of the establishment of partnership we have here.”

At the same time, he struck a sobering tone, reminding residents across the area to be vigilant and do their part in crime prevention given recent global events.

“There’s a worldwide call to seek revenge on the American people,” Milstead said. “We all need to be more diligent. … If you see something, say something. I think it’s a good time to remind people of just that.”

Getting the message: Stolen vehicle numbers show sharp drop; recoveries improve