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National Signing Day
A Hoover police officer makes a traffic stop on Alabama 150.
Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis on Tuesday night shared with the Hoover City Council what he described as “phenomenal” crime statistics for 2024.
Burglaries, car break-ins and thefts of vehicles were the lowest in 18 years, and non-traffic homicides and robberies were just slightly above the lows for that time frame, Derzis told the council.
There were only 70 burglaries in Hoover in 2024, compared to a high of 454 in 2009 and an 18-year average of 280. There were only 61 thefts of vehicles, compared to a high of 136 in 2007 and an average of 96 over 18 years, the chief said. There were 201 auto break-ins, compared to a high of 530 in 2013 and an average of more than 400 over the past 18 years.
Hoover had 11 robberies reported in 2024, up slightly from nine in 2023, but that’s still extremely low for a city with nearly 100,000 residents, Derzis said. In 2007, Hoover had 77 robberies, statistics show.
There was only one non-traffic homicide in Hoover in 2024, and that was the first non-traffic homicide in the city in 26 months, Derzis said.

Photo by Jon Anderson
This chart shared at a Jan. 21, 2025, Hoover City Council meeting shows targeted crime statistics in Hoover from 2007 to 2024, indicating that burglaries, car break-ins and thefts of vehicles were the lowest in 18 years in 2024.
Total “Group A” offenses reported to the FBI were down 10% from 4002 offenses in 2023 to 3,612 offenses in 2024, police said. Arrests were up 2% from 3,036 to 3,083.
Most crime categories saw decreases from 2023 to 2024, including a 30% drop in burglaries, 39% drop in motor vehicle thefts, 24% drop in embezzlement and 20% drop in vandalism.
The only crime categories with increases were domestic violence assaults (up 10% from 538 to 590), robberies (up 22% from nine to 11), pornography/obscene materials (up 67% from three to five cases), stolen property offenses (up 30% from 30 to 39) and extortion/blackmail (up 20% from five to six cases.

Source: Hoover Police Department
Derzis credited his police force with solid work to help bring down crime. “Our team works very, very hard every day,” he said.
He also thanked city leadership for providing the Police Department with tools to do their jobs and the public for partnering with police to help deter crimes and solve them when they happen.
Earlier Tuesday, Mayor Frank Brocato in his state-of-the-city address talked about the city having 15 drones to assist police with their work. Derzis said the technology and drones certainly do a great job, “but unfortunately the technology doesn’t put handcuffs on the bad guys. … We’ve got to have people.”
Derzis noted that while the city’s population has risen 31% from about 70,727 in 2007 to 92,448 in 2023, the number of police calls has risen 161% from 49,247 in 2008 to 128,532 in 2024.
Councilman Derrick Murphy said one of the reasons the city does so well in fighting crime is because the Police Department has the right folks serving as detectives to get warrants.
“Criminals go to areas they can get away with things,” Murphy said. “People make an effort to check the city limit signs before they make dumb decisions. Thank y’all for all the hard work y’all do. I know it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of manpower, but it also takes commitment and folks that really want to solve cases.”

Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis shares 2024 crime statistics with the Hoover City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
Murphy asked Derzis if the vehicle break-in numbers would look even better if people would start locking their vehicle doors, and the chief said they certainly would.
“We lose guns every week in the city,” Derzis said. “We don’t usually lose car phones because people will not put a car phone in their car and leave the door unlocked. They’ll leave the car unlocked and leave the handgun inside the glove compartment.”
During Tuesday night’s council meeting, the council agreed to upgrade one police officer position to a sergeant position so the department can have a sergeant overseeing a new intelligence unit. This intelligence unit will oversee things like the use of license plate readers and the security cameras around the city, Derzis said.