2024 Berkeley crime snapshot: Most crimes saw steep drops
In 2023, Berkeley saw a significant spike in serious crime reports, but nearly all the numbers plummeted in 2024.
Most serious Berkeley crimes were down significantly in 2024, according to preliminary data from the Berkeley Police Department.
In 2023, Berkeley saw a significant spike in serious crime reports, but nearly all the numbers plummeted in 2024.
Here's how Berkeley crime statistics broke down in 2024, according to the latest BPD data available, as of Dec. 25. (The department generally makes its annual report to the Berkeley City Council in March.)
According to BPD's Transparency Hub data portal, BPD has received more than 9,800 crime reports in 2024 compared to more than 11,000 the prior year.
Robberies in Berkeley: Down 43%
There were about 220 robberies reported in Berkeley in 2024, including carjacking and home-invasion robberies, compared to 386 in 2023. That's a 43% drop.
Historically, the city has averaged about one robbery a day, although those numbers fell during the pandemic.
Felony assaults in Berkeley: Down 7%
There were about 190 felony assaults reported in Berkeley this year, compared to 204 last year. That's a 7% decrease.
Sex crimes in Berkeley: Down 37% overall
Felony sex crimes in Berkeley are difficult to track on an ongoing basis because of how BPD splits up the data online.
According to its Transparency Hub, BPD received about 110 sex crime reports this year compared to 175 last year, a 37% drop.
There were 57 felony sex crime reports (compared to 93 last year) and 36 misdemeanor sex crime reports (compared to 56 last year).
But, unfortunately, the department also uses a "catch-all" category in its public-facing sex crime data for sex crimes involving juveniles — which masks whether these were felony or misdemeanor reports.
BPD received 17 juvenile sex crime reports this year compared to 26 last year, but there is no way to determine the severity of the reports via the Transparency Hub.
The Scanner has asked the department to consider making this clearer.
There were four homicides in Berkeley in 2024
The only serious category of violent crime that was up in Berkeley this year was homicide. Four people were killed this year in Berkeley compared to one last year.
- In March, Heather Riemer, 60, was fatally stabbed in her apartment on University Avenue. Her daughter, Gabriella Riemer, was charged with her murder.
- In July, Matthew Gullette, 55, was fatally shot on Martin Luther King Jr. Way just north of Ashby Avenue. Steve Addison was charged with his murder but he later died in jail.
- In August, Corey Waters, 52, was fatally shot inside an Adeline Street apartment building. Marcel Bible was charged with his murder.
- Later in August, Marcel Jones, 37, was fatally shot inside a northwest Berkeley homeless shelter. Mark Dowling, his bunkmate, was charged with his murder.
- Many in Berkeley also mourned the loss of 17-year-old high school student Kenny Houff, who was fatally shot in Oakland.
- The Scanner also closely covered the murder of Alyx Herrmann, whose body was found in Tilden park in January.
Gun violence killed 3 in Berkeley in 2024
Shootings generally fall under the aggravated assault category.
As of Dec. 27, Berkeley has had 30 shootings in 2024 leaving three dead (as noted above) and seven wounded.
On the map above, homicides are marked in red, injury shootings in black and non-injury shootings with a small orange dot. (See our primary 2024 gunfire map for more details.)
Injury shootings with surviving victims tapered down as the year wore on, with two in January (on Harrison Street and at Fourth Street and University Avenue), three in short order in March (near Fairview and Harper streets; on University Avenue; and in the 2200 block of Bonar Street), one in April on the freeway and one in October on Berkeley Way.
Police later said two of the surviving victims had accidentally shot themselves.
In 2023, there were 35 shootings in Berkeley, wounding seven. Berkeley also had two fatal police shootings in 2023, but none of the other shootings were fatal.
A quick look at Berkeley property crime in 2024
Home and commercial burglaries dropped substantially in 2024, from 1,187 to 749, a 37% decrease.
Home and commercial burglaries were nearly evenly split this year: There were 367 home burglaries compared to 628 last year, and 382 commercial burglaries compared to 559 last year.
Vehicle thefts were down about 23%, with 1,034 compared to 1,351 last year.
Felony thefts were down 21%, with 626 compared to 795 last year.
And arsons were down 41%, with 44 this year compared to 74 last year.
Caveats about the data
A few things to know about the Berkeley crime data presented in this report.
- These are preliminary raw numbers based on available data and will change in March — although we don't expect the percentages to be much different.
- Berkeley crime spiked in 2023, which gave this year's numbers even farther to fall. We'll provide past-year stats when the official BPD crime report comes out. You can see some of those historic numbers in our prior reporting.
- Comparison numbers are not readily available for other agencies at this time, but we'll try to delve into them in the coming months.
- These numbers do not include UCPD statistics, which are tracked separately and reported differently.
- We didn't get into traffic safety in this report. Read more from our archives.
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Emilie Raguso
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