SUFFOLK, Va. — Suffolk Police Chief James Buie announced a significant decrease in crime across the city in his 2025 crime report, with overall crime dropping 17% from the previous year.
"I'm a believer that we bring crime down by putting criminals in jail," Buie said.
The decline includes reductions in homicides, robberies, aggravated assaults, larceny and burglary, according to Buie's annual report.
Chief Buie says violent crime does not drive the overall crime statistics. Chief emphasized that property crimes drive the majority of Suffolk's overall crime statistics.
"What drives crime in our city are larcenies, breaking into vehicles. 82% is a big number I'll say this, I'd much rather that property crime number be 82% and the violent crime be 18% than it be the other way around," Buie said.
Chief Buie says there were nearly 200 search warrants in 2025, 485 charges were made, and 150 people were charged.
The mission, for officers is getting guns off the street and targeting drug dealers.
"Say you do a search warrant on a house and in that house you may find the narcotics that you're looking for that are being distributed, and other things that bring more charges in that same process," Buie said.
After reviewing search warrants at the Suffolk courthouse, we found a case from December where, during a traffic stop, officers discovered a pistol with a machine-gun conversion device and an extended magazine.
The device, commonly known as a Glock switch, allows the gun to fire rounds much more quickly.
Chief Buie says many of these cases would not happen without help from the community and the work of Suffolk police officers.
"These decreases don't occur without that relationship," Buie said.
Looking ahead to 2026, Buie said having a fully staffed department will be crucial for continuing to drive down property crime rates. More officers will enable better response times to service calls, increased neighborhood patrols and a stronger, more visible police presence throughout the city.
