Fort Smith police, fire departments to provide 2025 annual reports

A decline in crimes against persons and property, and the “difficult task” of making fire department budget cuts are part of reports from Fort Smith Police Chief Danny Baker and Fort Smith Fire Chief Darrell Clark to be made Tuesday (June 9) during the Fort Smith Board of Directors study session.

The 46-page report from Baker outlines activities, achievements and challenges in a department with an annual budget of $24.797 million. Of that budget $17.188 million was for personnel costs, and $7.61 million supported operations. Department revenue from the voter-approved dedicated sales tax totaled $3.691 million in 2025.

Baker’s report notes that crime numbers were down in 2025 compared with 2024, and down significantly compared with the five- and 10-year averages.

“A comparison of 2024 and 2025 crime data shows that the recommendations made by the Crime Analysis Unit, along with peer review of offense reports to ensure the offenses met Incident Based Reporting criteria, resulted in significant and measurable year-to-year drops in crime numbers and an overall decrease in Group A crimes,” according to the report. “Overall, crime was down 10.60% year-to-year; 29.97% against the 5-year average; and 32.88% against the 10-year average.”

Following are selected components of the “Group A” crime reports, which includes murder, sexual assaults, arson, and motor vehicle theft.

Homicide
2025: 7
2024: 1
2023: 6

Sexual assault
2025: 148
2024: 145
2023: 140

Aggravated assault
2025: 557
2024: 614
2023: 812

Robbery
2025: 68
2024: 76
2023: 66

Following are other items in Baker’s report.
The Criminal Investigations Division cleared 3,913 of 4,325 assigned cases for a 90.5% clearance rate. Efforts included major case investigations, fugitive operations, forensic and cyberinvestigations, property-crime enforcement, and narcotics interdiction.

The Fort Smith Police Department’s Field Operations Division covers 68 square miles within the city limits. At full operational strength, the division is staffed by 73 patrol officers organized into three troops working 10-hour shifts to provid 24-hour coverage.

In September 2025, the Fort Smith Police Department established mutual aid and cross-jurisdictional cooperation between department and the Choctaw Nation’s Lighthorse Police Department. The agreement is designed to enhance safety and strengthen law enforcement coverage within the city and areas of the Choctaw Nation’s reservation and Indian Country located in Arkansas.

In 2025, the unit conducted 393 Community Relations events, distributed 6,400 meals through Food Patrol, recorded 11 Pawfficer Fuzz appearances, and held two Citizen’s Police Academy classes.

In 2025, Traffic Unit officers responded to 271 traffic collisions, conducted 4,509 traffic stops, and were deployed on 18 occasions to investigate serious injury or fatality crashes. Traffic personnel also routinely adjusted work schedules and days off to support major events requiring traffic control and public safety coordination, providing support at 65 community events during the year.

FIRE DEPARTMENT
Clark said the biggest fire department challenge in 2025 was the “difficult task of trimming a large portion of the 2026 operating budget.” The budget cuts were mandated by the board of directors in an effort to balance the city’s budget.

“Effective December of 2025, we reduced the number of engine companies in the FSFD from nine to eight,” Clark noted in his report. “I eliminated three Driver positions, three Firefighter positions, and one administrative Battalion Chief. The FSFD went from 150 uniformed personnel to 143 and retained all four non-uniformed personnel. We had 12 new hire candidates in the pipeline for conditional offers of employment, and I reduced the number of new hires to five.”

Clark said the department had 16,000 calls for service in 2025, which is an average of 44 a day, or 1.8 per hour. According to Clark, the department responded to 228 more calls than in 2024, up 1.45% compared with 2024. He said the call demand shows “the continued operational demand placed on our firefighters and emergency personnel.”

“Consistent with national fire service trends, the majority of incidents responded to by the department continue to be emergency medical related calls, which make up the largest portion of our operational workload,” Clark noted.

Following are the 2025 call categories provided by Clark.
• Fire calls
The department had 344 fire calls, or 2.15% of all calls. Of the fire calls, 141 were for buildings, 59 for vehicles, and 144 were “other fires.” Of the fire calls, the department estimated $48.244 million in total property value involved, $44.581 million in property saved, and $3.663 million in total fire losses, for a property saved percentage of 92.41%

• Rescue calls
The department had 11,241 rescue calls in 2025, or 70.3% of all calls. Of those, 11,193 were for emergency medical help.

• Other calls
The department had 381 hazardous condition calls, and 1,321 service calls. The department also received 898 false calls, with 8 of those labeled as “malicious” calls.

Link here for a PDF of the agenda for the board study session.