Billings Police Chief, Rich St. John, said the most important thing in the just released report is the cityis safer today than in 2024.
The police department reports a significant reduction in all types of crimes that affect people’s daily lives including reduction in property crime and quality of life offenses while violent crime numbers remained stable. He reports homicides are down 60 % from previous years. In 2025 there were 5 deliberate homicides compared to 15 in 2024.
Chief St. John noted domestic violence is one of the biggest drivers of violent crimes in Billings and that efforts are being made to protecting the victims.
“ We saw a significant increase specifically 200 % in a state charge called reasonable apprehension in partner family member assault or PFMA. That indicates that our victims are reporting earlier and our officers are intervening sooner,” St. John explained.
The chief credits the work of the Northern Lights Family Justice Center in providing help and support for those in need.
Another area of major concern in the city is traffic.
“In 2025 we responded to more than 2600 collisions. One in four of those was an injury accident or a report of an injury accident,” said St. John.
St. John credits the short-term holding facility that opened in October to help with the overcrowding at the detention center with helping reduce crime.
“There is an absolute direct correlation between the reduction in our in our calls for service and reduction in our quality lifestyle and our ability to put people in jail. An absolute correlation,” he reiterated.
