The department’s October report lists 86 ambulance calls, 22 burglar alarms, 14 crashes, two burglaries and 11 criminal mischief calls, among other incidents.
SALEM – The Salem Police Department handled 767 total incidents during October 2026, down from 816 in September and 781 in August. It is the lowest total of the five months from June through October, a stretch that began at 848 in June and peaked at 912 in July. The report lists what each call was about, not how it ended. A call for service is not a criminal charge, and many calls do not result in an arrest or summons.
The most serious entries were single calls logged as a homicide and an aggravated assault. The report does not describe the homicide call. The News of Salem County has reported on the Oct. 13 shooting near the E. Broadway Sunoco in Salem City, which the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating. The report also lists five ShotSpotter activations, two burglaries, two motor vehicle thefts, two terroristic threats calls, two sex offense calls and four domestic violence calls. Most of the month’s volume was medical, alarm, traffic and neighborhood calls.
The table below groups the 472 calls in the report’s most newsworthy categories. The other 295 are administrative or routine entries, listed in the note at the end.
| Category | October Total |
|---|---|
| Violent, Threatening, Domestic & Court-Related | 42 |
| Property Crime | 24 |
| Traffic & Vehicle Safety | 69 |
| Fire, Medical & Public Safety | 110 |
| Alarms & Property Checks | 46 |
| Quality of Life & Disturbances | 181 |
Violent, Threatening, Domestic & Court-Related (42): The calls included five ShotSpotter activations, seven harassment calls, four domestic violence calls, three fights and two simple assaults. Single calls were logged as an aggravated assault and a homicide. There were also two terroristic threats calls, two sex offense calls and one disorderly conduct call. Domestic and court-related calls included four child custody disputes, four domestic standbys, two custody exchanges and two restraining order services. There was also one Megan’s Law violation and one probation or parole violation.
Property Crime (24): Criminal mischief led with 11 calls, followed by five trespassing calls. There were two burglaries, two motor vehicle thefts and two illegal dumping calls, plus one theft and one shoplifting call.
Traffic & Vehicle Safety (69): The calls included 16 motor vehicle stops and 14 crashes: nine with no injuries, four with injuries and one hit-and-run. Parking made up 24 calls, with 19 parking enforcement calls and five parking complaints. There were also six disabled-vehicle calls, three motor vehicle complaints, two erratic-driver calls, two motor vehicle incidents and two pedestrian stops.
Fire, Medical & Public Safety (110): Ambulance calls made up 86 of these, along with 16 fire calls. The rest were one overdose, two unattended deaths, four downed-wire calls and one water/sewer complaint.
Alarms & Property Checks (46): There were 22 burglar alarms, two panic alarms, 15 school checks and seven property checks.
Quality of Life & Disturbances (181): Suspicious person or vehicle calls led with 28, followed by 26 verbal arguments, 24 well-being checks and 22 unwanted-person calls. There were also 19 animal complaints, 19 mental illness calls, 18 juvenile incidents and 11 noise complaints. Smaller groups included four neighbor disputes, three customer disputes, two missing person calls, and single calls for a landlord/tenant dispute, loitering, fireworks, soliciting without a permit and a walk-in complaint.
How October Compares: Ambulance calls rose to 86 from 81 in September, but remain below the 90 logged in July and 95 in August. Criminal mischief climbed to 11, the highest of the past four months (eight in July, seven each in August and September). Motor vehicle stops fell to 16, down from 28 in both August and September, and simple and aggravated assaults dropped to three, compared with six in July, 10 in August and eight in September. Burglar alarms held at 22 for a second straight month after 32 in July and 27 in August, and ShotSpotter activations came in at five, within the four-to-six range of recent months. Combined well-being check and mental illness calls totaled 43, the lowest since June’s 69. October also logged one homicide call, the first since July’s.
Note: Calls not shown above (295) are administrative or routine categories. They are vehicle lockouts, private property tows, 911 hang-ups and open lines, matter of record, follow-up investigations, assists to other agencies, background investigations, crossing guard activity, MV/DL lookups, transportation, notifications, Megan’s Law registrations, firearms applications, OPRA requests, standbys, escorts, repossessions, voided calls and similar entries.
The News of Salem County grouped the calls into these categories. They are not official department categories. Figures come from the Salem Police Department’s Law Total Incident Report covering Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, 2026, and from the department’s June through September reports for comparisons. The department can provide the full call-by-call breakdown.