Staff presentations delivered last night at Arcata’s City Council meeting from police investigations commander Todd Dokweiler and fire chief Chris Emmons show Arcata’s emergency services are fielding more calls for service than ever.

Dokweiler and Emmons gave 2024 year-end reports that included total statistics for calls over the entire year, as well as things like APD’s arrests and Arcata Fire Department’s fires. 

APD’s statistics were up across the board. There were about 38,000 total incidents in 2024, an increase of over 7,000 from 2023. Much of that came from an increase of around 6,700 officer-initiated incidents, a category that includes things like traffic stops and wellness checks. APD received over 25,000 calls for service in 2024, a few hundred more than in 2023. 

Don’t stress too much about the data — there’s not a massive crime wave currently sweeping through Arcata. Dokweiler attributed the large uptick to hiring nine additional officers in 2024. 

Overall, APD made 1,832 arrests in 2024, up from 957 in 2023.

There were 3,650 incidents for AFD in 2024, up 100 from 2023. There were 83 fewer fires in 2024. There were approximately 2000 calls for medical services, which is about the same as in 2023.

AFD is handling far more calls now than even in the recent past. In 2014, AFD was called only 2,640 times, and even that was a large bump from years past.

“When I started in 1992, we were running somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-1000 calls, and now we’re running 3,600,” Emmons said. “We’ve increased tremendously.”