Police Reports

Annual Reports

Dear Mayor Marzolf, City Council Members, City Manager Tanghe, Auburn Hills Residents, Visitors, Community Leaders, Business Representatives, and Visitors:

It is my pleasure to present the 2024 Auburn Hills Police Department Annual Report. Thank you for taking the time to review our report as we put a lot of effort into compiling all the data and putting it into a format that is useful, while remaining transparent with the community.

You will find that we remained busy in 2024, while striving to continually improve our service delivery and make a positive impact on the community. We have an exceptional group of people here, who share the common values of HONOR, INTEGRITY, and SERVICE. We treat all people with courtesy, compassion, empathy, and respect. Our mission statement states in part that the only service we will not provide is poor service and we will at all times stand accountable for our conduct.

In 2024, we experienced a 2% increase in calls for service (26,050) compared to 2023. I am extremely proud of our entire staff who collectively work together as a team to proactively prevent crime, enforce the law, investigate criminal complaints, and provide outstanding service. You will find in 2024 that our department had a crime clearance rate of 76.38% overall for all crimes. To put that in perspective the national crime clearance rate for violent crimes is 45.5% and for property crimes is 17.2%. Crime clearance rates are a true measure of the effectiveness of a police department and their ability to bring those responsible for committing crimes to justice. It all starts with an initial report from a police officer in the field and accurately collecting all evidence, information, and witness statements to document in a comprehensive police report. Our detectives in the Investigations Division then work on these cases to determine the facts of a case and identify those responsible for committing crimes. We have the best detectives in the business, and I am extremely proud of their dedication and hard work. They play a huge role in our collective efforts to solve crimes, and because of their work our crime clearance rates are so high.

The safety and security of our residents, businesses, and visitors is our top priority. We take this responsibility seriously! We consistently pay attention to crime trends around the region and across the country to better prepare our staff to protect our community. I am pleased to report that we took steps a couple of years ago to purchase protective equipment and barriers that enhance the safety of our city sponsored open air events. We have also been staffing these events with police officers to ensure everyone can have a safe and enjoyable experience here in Auburn Hills.

I am grateful for the partnerships that we have with members of our community and the role they play in our police department. We continue to operate a robust Volunteers in Policing (VIP) and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) with volunteers from our community, who have stepped up to volunteer their time to serve our community. Most of the volunteers are previous graduates of our Citizens Academy and I am happy to report that we put on another successful academy in the fall of 2024. The police need the support of our community to be effective and I am certainly proud to boast about the wonderful support we have here from our Auburn Hills community members. This partnership plays a key role in the success of our department.

Law enforcement continues to be challenged across the country with attracting people to the profession. We have not been immune from this challenge here at Auburn Hills. However, with the strong support of our elected officials and city adminstration, we offer a dynamic work environment for a police officer, as well as cutting edge technology, equipment, facilities, and opportunities. It is because of these variables that we stand out among other agencies as a place to call home and build a lasting career. In 2024, our department experienced three retirements, which opened up opportunities for three promotions to occur. We also brought on four new police officers to join our team, some of whom have previous experience working as a police officer in other departments. In 2024, we continued to run our Youth Police Academy in June for high school age students exploring a career in law enforcement in the future. We also continue to operate a robust cadet program and have identified many cadets who have been sponsored to attend the police academy and ultimately start their career here as police officers.

We work hard to serve our community, to keep people safe, and to protect property. I personally want to thank our staff, whether they wear a uniform every day or work behind the scenes in a supportive role. They are the ones who collectively make us successful, who ensure people are treated with respect, who exceed expectations, and serve our community with honor and integrity. I am most thankful for them and all that they do!

I hope you find this annual report insightful as it demonstrates the hard work of our staff. We look forward to serving our community in 2025 and are always looking at innovative ways of improving our service and connection to the community.

Stay Safe!

Chief Ryan Gagnon