4th QTR 2021
In October of 2020 I reported on data from CrimeViewer, the on-line tool that allows you to view crime reports from the Austin Police Department. I reviewed the CrimeViewer data again in April of 2021. In that report, crime had not increased significantly from October 2020, but it certainly did not go down.
I just ran reports for the 4th Quarter of 2021, including October, November and December. I had to actually run monthly reports because CrimeViewer won’t list more than 1000 crimes in a category on a single query. And several crime categories exceeded 1000 reports for the three-month period. I also compared crime statistics for three City Council Districts: District 9 the downtown area, District 4 north and east of I35 in the St. Johns area, and District 10 which is west Austin.
As before, crime in Districts 9 and 4 was almost 3 times greater than in District 10, and crime rates were higher in those two districts across all categories. Property crimes including burglary (mostly of vehicles) and theft were highest in District 9. Violent crimes, including murder, aggravated assault, and robbery were more common in District 4. Personal crimes including assault, fighting and harassment made up the largest category of crimes in District 9, especially when combining Part 1 (generally felony) and Part 2 (generally misdemeanor) crimes. Second most common were drug and alcohol related crimes (mostly Part 2). The overall rate of Part 1 and Part 2 crimes did not change in District 9 from 2020 to 2021. Family disturbance was second to assault, fighting and harassment in District 4. Crime rates in District 4 were up 6% for Part 1 crimes and 17% for Part 2 crimes compared to 2020.
Personal crime and property crime spilled over into District 10 in 2021. Overall crime rates increased 16% from 2020. Robbery (while infrequent) increased by 67% and aggravated assault increased 53%. Burglary increased by 57%. Auto theft increased 44%. The rate of property theft was not significantly changed.
The City Council’s plan to “reimagine public safety”, whatever that means, is clearly not working. I encourage everyone in Austin to engage your City Council Member and demand relief from crime in Austin. I also encourage you to subscribe to SpotCrime, an app that will allow you to follow crime in your neighborhood. Download the app here:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spotcrime/id767693374
Also, use the CrimeViewer application to view APD crime reports for your neighborhood. I recommend the Crime Search tool in the toolbar to refine your search.
http://www.austintexas.gov/GIS/CrimeViewer
Waterloo to Austin 