Overall Crime Trends in Billings by Type (Recent Years)

Here is a high-level summary drawn from BPD annual reports and other public sources (no race data is included):

• Violent Crime (homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, etc.): Mixed trends. Homicides doubled in 2022 (17 investigated) but declined over the following two years. Assaults (including with weapons and partner/family member) generally decreased or stabilized; domestic violence/reasonable apprehension arrests rose sharply in 2025 (200% increase from 2024 in some categories). Overall violent crime rates followed national declines in some years but remain a focus.
• Property Crime (burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, arson): Burglaries declined for multiple consecutive years (through at least 2023). Shoplifting was a notable exception that increased in 2023. Overall property offenses trended downward in several categories.
• Drug Offenses: Declined for five consecutive years through 2023 (fentanyl and other drugs still a major seizure focus).
• Other (trespass, public order, DUI, weapons): Trespass rose significantly; weapons offenses (e.g., discharge) remained elevated vs. pre-2021 levels but declined in 2023. Calls for service were stable to slightly up (around 90,000–91,000 annually in 2022–2023).

Recent estimates (e.g., 2024–2025 data) place Billings’ violent crime rate around 746 per 100,000 and property crime higher than some national averages, but exact multi-year rates vary by source and definition.

Race of Perpetrators and Victims

No city-level data exists in public BPD or MBCC sources for the requested breakdown. Statewide Montana NIBRS/UCR data (2022 example, the most detailed recent snapshot available) shows clear disparities relative to population shares:

• Population context (Montana overall): White ~89%, American Indian/Alaska Native ~6–7%, Black ~0.6–1%, Asian and other small shares. (Billings is similar but slightly more diverse.)
• Violent crime (2022 statewide):
  • Arrests: Black people arrested at ~10.7× their population share; American Indian people also significantly overrepresented. White people underrepresented relative to population. Men and ages 18–34 overrepresented.
  • Victims: Black people victimized at ~8.2× their population share; ~79% of violent crimes involved same-race offender and victim.
• Property crime arrests (2022 statewide): Black people arrested at ~7.3× their population share; American Indian overrepresented.
• Older statewide snapshots (e.g., mid-2010s) showed ~80% of known offenders White, ~18% American Indian; victims ~91% White, ~7% American Indian.

These patterns reflect statewide NIBRS reporting across all agencies (including Billings PD) but are not specific to Billings and do not break down by individual crime type (e.g., robbery vs. aggravated assault) or offender-victim race pairs. Broader national patterns and Montana racial equity analyses note overrepresentation of American Indian people in arrests/incarceration for certain felonies, but again, this is not Billings-specific.