By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
For more than a decade, the crime index numbers have been moving in one direction in Hays...down.
Hays’ Crime Index offense rate, calculated annually by the KBI, has fallen from 28.9 offenses per 1,000 residents in 2013 to 11.9 in 2025, a decline of nearly 59 percent. It is worth noting that the 2025 rate was the lowest among the years recorded, continuing a long-term trend that has seen both property and violent crime rates decline
The change is particularly noticeable when looking at property crime. The property crime rate dropped from 25.4 offenses per 1,000 residents in 2013 to 9.7 in 2025, a decrease of nearly 62 percent. During that same period, the number of reported burglaries fell from 61 to 17, while thefts declined from 454 to 178.
Motor vehicle thefts also declined, falling from 23 in 2013 to 10 in 2025. Hays recorded three arsons in 2013, compared with none in 2025.
The decline has occurred even as Hays’ estimated population has remained relatively steady, generally fluctuating between about 20,000 and 21,500 residents.
The overall Crime Index rate has steadily fallen across the years examined, dropping from 28.9 in 2013, to 24.2 in 2016, 20.9 in 2019, 16.3 in 2022 and finally 11.9 in 2025. That 11.9 Crime index rate, which is based off of population size of the city, is lower than Riley County, Salina, Hutchinson, Garden City, Emporia, Junction City, Pittsburg, Liberal, Newton and Great Bend. The only city that ranks lower than Hays and has less of a crime rate per population (not overall crimes) is Dodge City, according to the 2025 Crime Report.
Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler said the department’s goal has remained focused on making sure residents feel safe, with preventing and reducing violence serving as a major priority.
“Violence reduction is something we continue to observe,” Scheibler said. “It’s our mission that people should feel safe.”
That mission, he said, has led the Hays Police Department to take a proactive approach when dealing with violence.
Scheibler said officers have learned that allowing smaller incidents of violence to continue can create opportunities for those incidents to become much more serious.
“We know from our experience that if we allow people to fight in the street, fights turn into batteries, batteries turn into aggravated batteries and aggravated batteries turn into homicides,” Scheibler said.
Because of that, Scheibler said the department places a high priority on intervening when violence occurs and holding those responsible accountable.
“We have to stop the violence, and I know our proactive approach to that has helped us reduce the violent crime rate in our community,” he said.
The violent crime rate has not declined as consistently as property crime, but it has moved lower overall. Hays recorded a violent crime rate of 3.5 offenses per 1,000 residents in 2013, compared with 2.2 in 2025, a decrease of roughly 37 percent.
There have been fluctuations along the way. The violent crime rate reached 3.8 in 2022 before falling to its 2025 level.
Individual violent crimes have also followed different patterns.
Murders in Hays have remained uncommon, ranging from zero to two annually in the years examined. There has not been a citizen murder in Hays since 2023. However, there was an officer involved shooting in September of last year in which Sgt. Scott Heimann with the Hays PD was shot and killed in the line of duty.
For information about the officer who was killed in the line of duty, click here.
Robberies have similarly fluctuated without establishing a clear long-term upward or downward trend, ranging between two and seven annually.
Rape is the exception to the broader trend, with the number increasing during portions of the period examined, although the numbers have appeared to slow since 2023.
While the violent crime rate has declined overall, Scheibler said the department remains focused on identifying situations where intervention can prevent violence from escalating.
One example is the department’s use of a lethality assessment program for domestic violence calls.
Scheibler said the program was implemented in part because of the connection between domestic violence and homicides in the community.
“Almost all our homicides in the community are related,” Scheibler said, “domestic or domestic-related.”
The program gives officers an opportunity to identify potentially dangerous situations and connect people with assistance.
“We have to make this our opportunity to make this safer for everybody, and get not only the victim help, but also get the defendant some help if we can make those things,” Scheibler said.
While the overall numbers show a significant decline in crime, Scheibler said property crime will continue to be an issue for the department.
“Property crime will always be a challenge for us,” he said.
Some of the department’s work on property crime, however, can also involve the community itself. Scheibler encouraged residents to take simple precautions such as locking their doors and vehicles and avoiding leaving valuables in plain sight.
Those measures may seem small, but they can help reduce opportunities for property crime.
And while property crime remains a concern, Scheibler said the department would rather deal with property crime than violence.
For Hays residents, the numbers provide a broader look at how crime has changed over the past 12 years. The city’s overall Crime Index rate has fallen by nearly three-fifths since 2013, while property crime has declined even more sharply.
The numbers do not mean every type of crime has declined every year, but the broader trend is clear: Hays recorded its lowest Crime Index rate among the years examined in 2025.
For the Hays Police Department, Scheibler said that progress does not mean the work is finished. The department’s focus remains on preventing violence, intervening before situations escalate and holding those who commit violent acts against residents accountable.
“The reduction of violence continues to be the priority for the Hays Police Department,” Scheibler said, “and we continue to be successful by holding those that commit violence against our citizens accountable for those actions.”