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Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s office on Thursday released the 2025 Crime in Kentucky report, and the governor said during his Team Kentucky Update Thursday that for the second year in a row a drop was seen in serious crime.

“The report, compiled by the Kentucky State Police, shows an 8.14 percent decrease in reports of serious crime compared to 2024,” Beshear said. “Those include decreases in homicide offenses, drug narcotic offenses, robbery offenses, and more.”

Beshear said the report also showed increases in arrests for homicides, human trafficking, kidnapping, robbery, and more. Serious crime is down nearly 22 percent from numbers reported in 2019.

The governor attributed the decrease to the hard work of law enforcement officers and public safety officials.

“Because of their partnership, we’ve now recorded two consecutive years of decreases in serious crime, four straight years of declines in overdose deaths, and we’ve reduced recidivism rates for two years in a row,” Beshear said.

The full report can be found on the Kentucky State Police’s website.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.

County Attorney Jenny Oldham provided some background information on the upcoming closure of the SpringHaven Inc. domestic violence shelter on June 30. Oldham said ZeroV, the state domestic violence coalition which distributes funding from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, will no longer be providing SpringHaven with funding designated for the Lincoln Trail District, but the funding isn’t going away.

“So the funding that the legislature gives ZeroV still exists for services in these eight counties, and I want to make sure everybody understands that,” Oldham said. “I don’t want to speak for ZeroV, but they’re going to give out more information. There’s a plan in place that will be executed July 1.”

Oldham said community partners may have to work a little harder to make sure services remain available at this time, but victims of domestic violence will not bear the burden and will still have access to help.

“I don’t want anyone who might be listening to this to think there’s no way out, there’s no reason to reach out,” Oldham said. “They will still get an answer on the other end of the call.”

Victims of domestic violence can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

In other meeting news, Hardin County Coroner Pat Elmore said his office responded to 88 cases in April and 97 in May. Hardin County Sheriff John Ward said his office made 144 arrests, issued 203 citations, and served 138 warrants in April and May.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet July 14. The next county Town Hall Forum will be held in the fiscal courtroom on June 30.