Crime in Waycross, particularly of the violent variety, continued a decline last year.
Police Chief Tommy Cox told the Waycross City Commission at its meeting Tuesday, February 3, the city’s crime rate is a “trend heading in the right direction.”
The statistics for 2024-25 were part of a decrease that began early this decade, according to WPD data.
The statistics year over year show:
• Serious, violent and major property crime down 32.8 percent; • Gun/weapon-related violent acts down 35.5 percent;
• Stolen items/property own 47.5 percent;
• All others down 8.39 percent;
• Traffic accidents down 8.5. Response time by WPD personnel also continued to drop, showing a twominute, 47-second response time for all calls.
“Hearing the word decrease and crime put together has a nie sound,” Mayor Michael-Angelo James said.
Since the 2021 stats were released, only one of the five categories has shown an increase in the past five years.
That statistic was for other crimes, which is up 6.1 percent for the period.
The others were:
• Serious, violent and major property crime down 45.2 percent;
• Gun/weapon-related violent acts down 39.7 percent;
• Stolen items/property own 40.5 percent;
• Traffic accidents down 13.21. Response time by WPD personnel has decreased 26.43 percent in the five-year period, 3:47 to its most recent 2:47.
Cox pointed to a cooperative effort between citizens and the police for the trend.
“It’s a community effort,” he said. “It’s what the citizens are doing and the officers on patrol and those on the investigative side are doing as well.”
