LACEY — Crime rates fell across every major category in Washington state in 2025, including sharp drops in murders, violent crime and property offenses, according to the annual Crime in Washington report released this month by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
“The latest report on crime in Washington state shows crime significantly down, dropping across all categories. That includes declines of over 20% for murders and property crimes,” Governor Bob Ferguson posted on X. “This improvement reflects the hard work of law enforcement professionals across our state — thank you. We still rank last in number of law enforcement officers per capita. In my inaugural address, I made it clear that I would not sign a budget without $100 million for hiring officers. I secured that funding and we’ve now awarded almost $60 million to 25 cities and counties. I look forward to continuing our work together with local governments and law enforcement to reduce crime.”
The report uses the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which divides crimes into two main groups. Group A offenses are the more serious crimes for which agencies submit detailed incident-level data (location, time, weapons, victims, offenders and more). These form the core of the annual statewide statistics. Group B offenses are generally less serious and are reported primarily when an arrest occurs; they include driving under the influence, disorderly conduct, liquor-law violations, trespassing and similar infractions.
Among the 197 agencies that reported complete data for both years, Group A offenses declined 16.6%, from 444,702 in 2024 to 370,987 in 2025. Statewide Group A offenses totaled 376,799, for a rate of 46.43 per 1,000 residents in a statewide population of 8,114,915. The overall clearance rate for Group A offenses stood at 29.5%. Approximately 40 agencies, including five sheriffs’ offices, submitted less than a full year of 2025 data as of the March 2026 deadline.
The data shows 236 murders statewide in 2025, a 21.6% decline from 296 the prior year for comparable reporting. Violent crimes decreased 13.8%, from 28,900 offenses to 24,913. Crimes against persons fell 7.3% to 100,688 from 108,664, while property crimes plunged 21.3% to 242,542 from 308,044. Crimes against society edged down 0.9% to 27,754.
Larceny-theft accounted for 46.9% of property crimes, followed by destruction of property at 20.9% and burglary/breaking and entering at 10.0%. Domestic violence made up 49.8% of crimes against persons and 4.2% of property crimes, with 61,253 domestic violence incidents reported, including 14,658 violations of protection or no-contact orders.
There were 5,319 sexual assault incidents involving the same number of victims and 5,436 offenders. Law enforcement recorded 2,358 assaults on officers and two officers killed in the line of duty.
Arrests totaled a rate of 18.5 per 1,000 residents, with juveniles comprising 5.3%. There were 23,494 DUI arrests, including 178 juveniles, and 11,131 arrests for drug/narcotic violations (3.4% under age 18). Hate crime incidents numbered 451.
“Any reduction in crime means fewer victims, and that is great news for our communities,” Steven D. Strachan, WASPC executive director, told the Seattle Times.
Washington still ranks last nationally in officers per capita for more than a decade. in 2025, full-time law enforcement employees numbered 16,851, of whom 11,138 were commissioned officers.
Still, according to the “crime clock,” a crime against persons occurs every 5.1 minutes, one against property every 2.1 minutes and one against society every 18.5 minutes.
Author: Mario Lotmore
