Chattanooga police recorded 802 vandalism cases (Destructive/Damage/Vandalism Of Property) from April through September 2026, down 21.7% from 1,024 in the same months of 2025 and 42% below 1,389 in 2023. Each case number is counted once. From 2015 through 2023 the same six months ran between 1,333 and 1,547 cases every year; the count then fell to 1,111 in 2024, 1,024 in 2025 and 802 in 2026.

Five of the six months were lower than a year earlier; September was the exception (133 against 130). Leaving out February and March 2026, which are incomplete in the published file, five of the ten lowest months for vandalism since 2015 fall in 2026: August (122), June (131), July (133), September (133) and May (139).

The drop is not part of a broad fall in serious crime. Cases with any other Part 1 offense and no vandalism charge were flat over the same window, 6,888 to 6,907 (+0.3%).

Five of the six police zones fell, most in Charlie North (247 to 167) and Adam South (237 to 185). Baker North was roughly unchanged (126 to 129).

Part of the decline is in vandalism recorded alongside another offense. Cases where vandalism was the only offense fell 13.2% (619 to 537). Cases where it was listed with another offense, most often simple assault, theft from a vehicle, burglary or aggravated assault, fell 34.6% (405 to 265). Across all cases, the share listing more than one offense also fell, from 6.6% to 5.3%, so some of the decline reflects fewer offenses being recorded per case rather than fewer incidents.

The dataset records incidents reported to or by police, so it cannot separate less vandalism from less reporting. The data does not say why the count fell. The comparison uses April through September because the published file has far fewer records for February and March 2026 than for the months around them.