Maricopa Police Chief Mark Goodman reports that the city overall saw a 10% reduction in crimes per capita in 2023.

Goodman presented his 2023 crime report to the City Council on Tuesday.

Goodman, who came on board in December 2022 as the city’s top cop, elaborated on his report Thursday, telling InMaricopa that although crime is up in some categories, so are arrests.

The police chief reports:

  • 2023 saw an increase in crimes against persons rising by 32%, the vast majority of which involved domestic violence cases. “Overall, 55 percent of assaults were people who know one another,” Goodman said. “Actual instances of violence involving an unknown person against another person is relatively low.”
  • Burglaries are down 25 percent.
  • Criminal damage, also called vandalism, went up 35 percent. “But interestingly enough arrests for vandalism went up 52 percent,” the police chief said.
  • Arrests for assaults up by 65 percent. “The message there is we are catching people for assaults,” Goodman said.
  • In 2023, there was a 7 percent increase in crimes against properties. General theft crimes against property were up 4 percent, but arrests for theft went up 18 percent, “which means we are really catching people.”
  • Crimes against society, such as drug offenses and weapons violations, are down 45 percent over 2022.
  • Lesser crimes such as driving under the influence, disorderly conduct, liquor law violations, were up 28 percent.

The chief explained that when there’s a population increase, and the crimes remain without increasing, then we have a drop in crimes per capita.

“Maricopa continues to be a relatively safe place to live in,” Goodman said.

As a chief, he said he believes people choose to live, work or run a business in Maricopa because there’s “a perception of safety here.”

In all, Maricopa Police Department made 2,248 arrests in 2023, of which 474 were for felonies and 1,774 were for misdemeanors, Goodman said.

The highest number of 2023 traffic citations — 2,005 — were issued for speeding “greater than reasonable.”

The city’s traffic unit issued 57% of all traffic-related citations and responded to 24% of all traffic collisions reported in 2023.

Goodman reported that MPD dispatch received 35,672 calls for service in 2023. Of those calls, 4,445 were transferred to the Fire Department

Of the calls made to MPD, 11% were for any crime in progress, which might result in injury, a major loss of property, or immediate apprehension of a suspect.

Other calls, 9%, were “minor in progress” or just-occurred calls with no threat of injury or major loss.

A majority of the calls, 74%, were disputes, disturbances, alarms, property damage collisions and similar incidents.

Goodman also reported one of the department’s successes was the hiring of 18 sworn-in officers.

The chief said when he started at the department it had 14 officer vacancies, compared to two today.

There were 580 people applying for police officer positions last year in 2023, he said.

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