Although overall violent crime in the City of Hyattsville decreased during the first half of 2025, the city saw an uptick in burglary — especially commercial burglary — and theft, according to online Hyattsville police crime reports.
2025 sees increase in burglary and theft
In the first half of 2025 (January to June), most violent crime declined, when compared to the first half of 2024. Robberies, carjackings and assaults all declined. There were no recorded homicides in the City of Hyattsville in either the first half of this year or the first half of last year. Rape was one category of violent crime (or crimes against persons) that did increase in the first half of 2025 (1 in 2024, 4 in 2025).
Burglary and theft — considered crimes against property — both increased during the first half of 2025. In a July 30 interview with the Life & Times, Hyattsville police Chief Jarod Towers described burglary — especially commercial burglary — and theft as two of the main thorns in his side. Burglary is when someone specifically breaks into and enters a building to steal something, which is why burglary is also known as breaking and entering, or B&E.
Commercial burglary increased by almost 47%, from 15 incidents in the first half of 2024 to 22 in the first half of 2025. Residential burglary increased almost 42%, from 12 incidents to 17.
Although, according to Towers, the increase in commercial burglary has been a regional trend, Hyattsville has seen a sharper increase than many county municipalities, perhaps because of the Mall at Prince George’s.
“The only thing I can think of is we’re the municipality with the mall,” Towers said. “If somebody breaks into the mall after hours and breaks … into four of those [small business] carts, that counts as four businesses being burglarized.”
Theft increased by 24%, from 234 incidents in the first half of 2024 to 291 in the first half of 2025. The majority of thefts occurred in Ward 3, where the Mall at Prince George’s, Hyattsville Crossing Metro station and Northwestern High School are located; in the first half of 2025, 200 of the 291 thefts occurred in Ward 3.
Towers described several Hyattsville Police Department (HPD) responses to these trends. To address commercial burglary, Towers and a representative from the city’s Community and Economic Development department are visiting city businesses — starting with burgled ones — with a two-prong approach. First, Towers or his designee discusses burglary prevention tips, along with how to request a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED, survey. Then, the Community and Economic Development representative talks about how to apply for a façade-improvement grant, which can improve security by helping pay for features like upgraded locks, cameras, and lighting, according to Towers.
To address residential burglary, the HPD has posted a safety tip sheet on social media, which gives suggestions like installing motion lights and exterior cameras. Towers notes that residents can also contact the department’s Community Action Team, or CAT (cat@hyattsville.org), to conduct a CPTED survey of the residence and give recommendations about a home’s locks, lighting, surrounding bushes and more.
To address city crime, in general, Towers said that, within the last few years, the department has added a crime analyst position and an extra detective position to the city’s criminal investigation section. However, although the city council voted to fund the crime analyst position, the authorization to actually hire the analyst has been put on hold. And, the department has not had sufficient staffing to fill the extra detective position.
Towers noted how the city, with the help of several grants, is investing in technology to help against crime, like CCTV and an LPR system. CCTV, or closed-circuit television, uses video cameras to send signals to a specific set of monitors for surveillance and security purposes. An LPR, or license plate recognition, system allows computer software to identify vehicle license plates.
Towers noted how the city has often had to be reactive in responding to incidents that involve a stolen vehicle, like the 2021 shooting near Busboys and Poets or the July 20 traffic stop that ended up in a car crash and recovery of a BB gun. With CCTV and an LPR system, according to Towers, the HPD would receive notice that there’s a stolen vehicle entering the city and could then respond proactively, likely preventing a more serious crime.
Hyattsville currently up-to-date with crime reports
As of July 2025, HPD crime statistics reports were up to date. By mid-July, HPD had posted its 2024 annual crime report, along with quarter 1 (January to March) and quarter 2 (April to June) 2025 crime reports on the city’s website. Monthly reports were also up to date.
For several years, at least since April 2022, HPD crime reports have often been out of date. For example, at the end of May 2024, the most recent monthly crime report available on the city website was for March 2023, and recent quarterly and annual reports weren’t posted.
In a July 30 email, Towers said that the improvement in timely crime reports resulted from a department reorganization “to ensure the workload was shared across four commanders instead of three.”
Editor’s note: what is above refers to the Hyattsville Police Department’s internally produced summary crime reports. A reader has alerted us that data on the City Protect platform, where the HPD and other police agencies in the county also upload crime information, was not uploaded April 1 through July, though it is now up to date as well.
Crime spiked in 2023
According to Hyattsville’s 2024 crime statistics report, overall crime committed within city boundaries spiked in 2023, and declined in 2024: There were 960 crime incidents across all categories in 2020, 793 in 2021 (think pandemic lockdowns), 925 in 2022, 1,250 in 2023, and 910 in 2024.
Robberies and car thefts both increased dramatically in 2023. Robberies surged 160%, from 51 incidents in 2022 to 133 in 2023. Car thefts jumped 171%, from 116 incidents in 2022 to 314 in 2023. Towers said that both trends were regional, and that coming out of the pandemic, juvenile and young adult crime was rampant, cars sat around unused longer than pre-pandemic, and there was a decrease in public transportation. “Along with that juvenile crime and lack of transportation,” Towers said, “we saw a significant increase in vehicle crimes — all carjackings and stolen vehicles.”
While the incidents of both robberies and car thefts decreased in 2024, the number of 2024 incidents (robberies: 76; car thefts: 158) were still higher than those in each of the three years preceding 2023.