Law enforcement calls for service rose nearly 10% during 2025 despite 911 calls decreasing by 649.
According to the Wayne County Emergency Communications Center report, officer-initiated activity, such as business checks, delivery of court paperwork, civil process service and special patrol activities all rose from 2024. The 40,032 calls to 911 fits within the annual pattern of 40,000 to 45,000 emergency calls.
The report shows the county’s 911 dispatchers handled 121,927 total calls, an increase of 6.71% during 2025, because of an 11.30% increase in administrative calls. The ECC also received 1,155 texts to 911 and sent 3,093 texts. Both numbers represent a decrease from 2024.
The overall call volume resulted in 84,768 instances of law enforcement, fire or emergency medical services, an increase of 6.26% from 2024. Law enforcement accounted for 66,053 of service calls, a 9.74% jump, while fire and EMS accounted for 16,793 service calls, nearly equal to 2024’s 16,840.
The most frequent service calls were traffic stops (9,112), business checks (5,727, up 167%), 911 hangups (5,156), civil process (4,170, a 69% increase), speak with an officer (4,154) and sick person/illness (2,753).
The number of 911 hangups decreased for the second consecutive year as security system technology improves. Hangups peaked with 9,646 in 2023 and have decreased 46.55% across two years.
Law enforcement service calls dropped significantly in several areas. There were 15 responses for shootings (down 44.44%), 1,039 for robberies or thefts (down 19.52%), 332 for burglaries (down 17.82%), 2,661 for animal-related issues (down 14.71%), 238 for shots fired (down 12.50%), 1,888 for verbal or physical domestics (down 12.47%) and 238 for a person with a gun (down 10.14%).
Service calls that rose include 18 for stabbings (up 80.00%), 307 for batteries (up 13.70%), 1,160 for emotional or suicidal people (up 10.90%), 579 for sex offenses (up 9.66%) and 3,143 for motor vehicle accidents (up 5.36%).
Richmond Police Department handled the most service calls with 37,172. That’s an increase of 16.92% from 2024 and accounts for 45% of all service calls. The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office handled 18,286 service calls (an increase of 6.42%), while six town law enforcement agencies handled 10,595 service calls, which was just 47 fewer than 2024.
In a news release, RPD highlighted decreases in homicides (one, down 50.00%), thefts (349, down 24.46%) and residential burglaries (52, down 22.39%) in the city. Residential burglary arrests rose 10.00% to 11.
The department made 362 drug-related arrests, an increase of 23.97%. There were 25 overdose deaths, a decrease of 10.71%.
RPD also noted that its investigative services division opened 471 cases, an increase of 28.69%. Its officers completed 58 cases, served 21 arrest warrants and made 112 total arrests (87 felony and 25 misdemeanor). The investigations led to seizure of 7.13 pounds of narcotics and 12 firearms.
Richmond Fire Department responded to 11,011 calls for service, less than a 1% increase from the 10,977 calls in 2024. Of those, 8,405 were EMS calls, according to an RFD release, that resulted in 6,931 patients transported to a medical facility. Reid Health, which this year is in the final year of a five-year county contract to provide EMS service outside Richmond and Wayne Township, responded to 3,235 service calls, a drop of 57 from 2024. The county’s 12 volunteer fire departments answered 2,547 service calls, an increase of 32 from 2024.
The fire agencies responded to 621 fires, a drop of 10.39%, and to 587 business or residential alarms, a 7.56% decrease. RFD responded to 101 fires, including 19 for vehicles.
EMA responses
The Wayne County Emergency Management Agency issued 75 warnings, watches and advisories during 2025, down 37.50% from 2024, which was an unusually busy weather year. There were 15 winter weather advisories and 11 severe thunderstorm warnings. The county was under a Level I travel advisory six times and a Level II travel advisory once.
EMA also responded to 26 hazardous materials incidents, an increase of three from 2024.
A version of this article appeared in the February 11 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.