While theft against private citizens increased in Hyattsville in 2025, theft from businesses decreased compared to 2024. Violent crime was down, as well. 

Commercial burglary declined 39% in Hyattsville in the second half of 2025, from 23 incidents in the second half of 2024 to 14 in the second half of 2025. Overall, commercial burglary — breaking into a business to steal something — declined 5% in 2025 compared to (36 down from 38). 

Commercial robbery — stealing from a business by force or threat — also decreased from 2024 to 2025, by 47%, from 29 incidents to 15 incidents. 

In a February interview, Hyattsville Police Department (HPD) Chief Jarod T. Towers noted that the department recently arrested a 34-year-old suspect from Brentwood, charging him in connection with three commercial burglaries, spanning from the end of 2025 into January 2026. “He’s being held without bond right now, and our burglary numbers have dropped off,” Towers said. 

As reported last August, to address a 47% rise in commercial burglary from the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2025, Towers and a representative from the city’s Community and Economic Development department visited city businesses — especially burgled ones — with a multi-prong approach that included burglary prevention tips and support applying for a façade-improvement grant, which can help pay for features like upgraded locks, cameras and lighting.  

Towers said he didn’t know if the targeted visits to businesses led to the decline in commercial burglaries. “While the relationship-building is always a positive thing,” he said, “I can’t honestly say that I think it had a significant impact in the trend that we saw as it tapered off in ’25. I can’t take credit for that.”

Overall, violent crime was down 16% year over year, from 225 incidents in 2024 to 188 incidents in 2025. Rape was an exception to this trend, in that there were 6 incidents in 2025 vs. 5 incidents in 2024. 

In contrast, crime against property was up 13% year over year, mainly because of a 28% increase in thefts — from 465 recorded thefts in 2024 to 596 in 2025. 

Although many crime categories, including assault, robbery and stolen vehicles, spiked in 2023 and have since tapered off, thefts in 2025 were even higher than in 2023 (596 in 2025 vs. 562 in 2023).  

Towers attributed the increase in thefts to a tough economy and said that the trend was not limited to Hyattsville. “We’re seeing folks really struggling, and when people are struggling, we tend to see more thefts as it relates to food insecurity, housing insecurity, those sorts of things,” he said.

Carjackings, which increased jarringly during the pandemic, have stabilized and again become low-frequency events: There were 4 reported carjackings in both 2024 and 2025. And stolen vehicles declined 27%, with 116 incidents in 2025, compared to 158 in 2024. Carjacking involves taking a vehicle through force or intimidation. 

Shout out for license plate readers

Towers emphasized that recently purchased license plate readers helped the HPD find and arrest the 29-year-old suspect in the New Year’s Day shooting that occurred at the 3300 block of East-West Highway. Towers described how a man went into an apartment building and opened fire, shooting through walls. 

Within 72 hours of an arrest warrant being issued for the suspect, on Jan. 4, the national license plate reading system notified police that he had reentered the city. The suspect was apprehended at a traffic stop back in the parking lot of the same apartment complex where the original shooting occurred, was charged with three counts of attempted murder, and is being held without bond, according to Towers, as of press time. 

“Now, I can’t forecast what he was doing there, why he was coming back to the scene,” Towers said, “but I think it’s safe to say that with the assistance of this technology, we prevented another crime from occurring.”

Snow storm calls for policing pivots

In late January, a winter storm pummelled the DMV area with more than 6 inches of snow, sleet and ice. Towers said that the snowstorm showed him the resilience and flexibility of law enforcement officers. “They go from being crime fighters one moment and chasing down an armed suspect or responding to an active shooter call in an apartment building, to building snowmen with kids,” he noted. 

Towers described how in addition to their normal patrols, during a winter storm, police officers help stranded motorists and assist medical personnel reach places where snow has impeded ambulances. 

“[The snow and ice] slows people down, it slows crime down, less people are outside committing crimes,” Towers said, “and so it allows us to really do what we really want to do, which is help people, provide a service to people.”