The University of Iowa added its second-largest first-year class in its 178-year history, resulting in 23,407 university undergraduates in the city for the fall, and with population increases, the city also faces an increase in the incidence of accidents, and first responders face an increase in calls.
Calls for service for all agencies in Johnson County, including the Iowa City Police Department, totaled 14,825 between Aug. 31 and Sept. 29, according to the Joint Emergency Communications Center website.
Iowa City has an overall crime rate of about 39.56, slightly higher than the national average of 33.37, according to the NextDoor website, a neighborhood networking website and app with crime data for thousands of cities.
Although call volume sees a spike during certain times of the year, overall crime has fallen in Johnson County by 3.4 percent since 2024, according to Iowa’s Department of Public Safety. Scott Gaarde, a captain at the Iowa City Police Department, said there is a direct correlation with crime rates going up as temperatures rise.
“Even criminals don’t like the cold weather,” he said.
Iowa City faces the unique challenge of a significant seasonal population increase.
The UI reported 31,563 total students enrolled in Fall 2025, according to university data. With the undergraduate class of 2029 being the second largest in history, most of whom live on campus, Iowa City’s first responders have been preparing themselves for an uptick in calls.
“There’s going to be more people during the school year, so there’s going to be more crimes,” Gaarde said. “Like a football Saturday, there’s going to be more culture service on a football Saturday versus a Saturday in February.”
Hayley Bruce, the public information officer for the UI police, said there can also be an alteration in what the departments are responding to seasonally, with more bike thefts and physical assaults being reported in the summer months and more incidents regarding alcohol as the academic year begins.
“At the beginning of the academic year, our call volume tends to shift a little bit, and we see an influx of alcohol related incidents and medical calls at the residence halls, especially early on those first couple weeks of the semester,” Bruce said.
Bruce explained while staffing levels remain fairly consistent throughout the year, they reallocate resources depending on what’s needed on a given day.
“We might spend more time near the residence halls during the academic year, but during the summer, we might shift some of our resources to other areas of campus such as the hospital or doing extra controls in buildings that are maybe a little bit less populated during the summer months,” she said.
Bruce said while Campus Safety does not alter the way they respond to calls seasonally, they do prepare for the beginning of the academic year and the shift in call volume.
“Our officers do some refresher training on the layout of each residence hall to make sure that we’re prepared to respond quickly if needed,” she said.
Emergency responders in the area work closely to ensure campus is as safe as possible, meeting with each other’s leadership teams regularly.
“Our officers train together to make sure that we’re all prepared to respond to different kinds of events that can happen on campus and near campus,” Bruce said. “We maintain that contact throughout the year as different situations arise that might require more collaborative response.”
Residence halls at the university are required to call first responders in the case of immediate danger or need. Students are also able to contact Campus Safety through an emergency and non-emergency line.
Bruce said Campus Safety is in attendance at summer orientation and welcome week events to help get familiar with students and recruit some to work with the
department.
“The start of the semester also brings more opportunities for us to do community outreach and educational events with students so students can get to know us outside of emergency situations and learn more about the free safety resources we offer,” Bruce said.
