Wednesday, March 19, 2025–6:40 p.m.
-Staff reports-
The most serious crimes in the City of Rome were down in 2024.
According to Major Rusty Blair with the Rome Police Department, crimes against persons, as a whole, were down 6 percent.
“For murders, we have seven in 2023, but last year we only had three,” he said. That is a decrease of about 57 percent. Aggravated assaults were down by 36 percent.”
Property crimes were also down.
“Burglary was down 26 percent in 2024,” Blair said. “Thefts from buildings were down 27 percent, and people breaking into and taking things from cars was down 24 percent. So, we saw a total decrease of crimes against property in 2024 of 15 percent.”
2024 also saw an increased police presence in Downtown Rome.
“We had problems on Broad Street and people being places where they shouldn’t be, and that kind of thing,” Blair said. “So, we tasked some officers who worked with the Downtown Development Authority and they have been handling. We saw an increase in handling those violations in 2024 with 31 cases, up from 13 in 2023.”
The increase in cases is attributed more to the increased enforcement than an actual increase in incidents.
Major Blair was a guest on WRGA’s First News with Doug Walker on Wednesday.
