Sterling Police Chief Pat Bartel has released the department’s 2025 annual crime statistics, showing steady drug arrests and a dramatic decline in gang activity over the past two decades.

The department made 53 arrests for drug and narcotic violations in 2025, compared to 58 in 2024. Methamphetamine accounts for the majority of those arrests, with 12 additional arrests for drug equipment violations in 2025, up from 8 in 2024.

“Drug-related arrests are almost a flat line and steady,” Bartel said. “Methamphetamine is what we are seeing right now and what the majority of our arrests are for.”

Bartel attributes the steady rate to the availability and potency of methamphetamine in the area. The drug is now typically imported and often mixed with fentanyl.

“The methamphetamine you’re seeing is imported meth that is stronger and a lot of times it’s cut with fentanyl or it’s used with fentanyl,” Bartel said. “With meth, it’s the availability. Prices haven’t decreased for it. The type of meth that people are using now is carrying a higher price than the homemade meth was. I think it’s easier for people to find now.”

Substance abuse crosses demographic lines in Sterling. Bartel noted that while some homeless people struggle with addiction, others who are employed and housed do as well.

“With meth, it doesn’t have a specific demographic,” he said.

The SPD has also seen an increase in fentanyl use. According to the Centers for Disease Control, around 38,000 people died from drug overdoses involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, in 2025.

Bartel said the department had been using the overdose-reversal drug Narcan on people weekly a couple of years ago, but that has decreased. He credits wider availability of Narcan and community education efforts.

“There has been more education out there. Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery is working with people and Narcan is more widely available. It’s not just the medical field and law enforcement and the fire department who have it. You can buy Narcan at Walmart and Walgreens now,” he said.

Gang activity

Gang activity, by contrast, has dropped dramatically since the mid- to-late 1990s, when Sterling faced significant gang problems that included shootings and rival drug-trade factions.

“They aged out. They grew up, they went to prison,” Bartel said of the decline.

While some gang factions may still exist in Sterling, gang crime is now negligible, Bartel said. Graffiti that appears around town is typically tagging rather than gang marking.

“The tagging we see isn’t that. There was a day when we had gang taggings. It’s not that kind of tagging anymore. It’s somebody writing a name or a picture or something of that nature,” he said.

Bartel credited the department’s zero-tolerance policy and vigorous prosecution for the turnaround.

“Our enforcement actions had a lot to do with it,” he said. “We have a zero tolerance policy. We still have those ordinances on the books for gang crimes. Between the state laws and the city ordinances, and the prosecutor at the time, we were able to get a handle on it.”