The property crime situation in our neighborhood took an uptick in February, but has been slowly improving through the year. The first quarter statistics reported by the Austin Police Department have a few glitches, but otherwise show improvement.
Here are the raw numbers for some key crime types for the first three months:
| Jan | Feb | Mar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burglary of Residence | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Theft | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| Burglary of Vehicle | 1 | 7 | 8 |
There are some issues with the statistics that cause the March numbers to look higher than they are. Some crimes end up being recorded multiple times, or in multiple categories. Also, some of these statistics include property crime at commercial locations, as well as residential crime. As a result, these numbers sometimes make the crime situation appear worse than it really is.
For instance, although there were eight theft incidents recorded in March, three of those were at commercial addresses. Three of the residential incidents occurred on the same block on Penny Lane on the same day.
So although the “Burglary of Residence” and “Theft” columns add up to 11 for the month of March, there were actually just five residential locations at which these crimes occurred: 26xx Clarkdale, 88xx McCann, 32xx Mossrock, 27xx Penny, 85xx Rockwood.
For the eight “burglary of vehicle” incidents in March, after eliminating duplicate addresses and commercial locations, only two residential locations are identified: 27xx Thrushwood and 88xx Dawnridge.
At this time, the preliminary April statistics show continued improvement on residential theft and burglary. Burglary of vehicle statistics, on the other hand, appear to be increasing, although most of the problems appear to be at non-residential locations.
Please continue to keep a watch out for your neighbors, and call 911 to report suspicious behavior. Also, please take extra steps to ensure you don’t fall victim to automotive burglary. Here is a web page by TxDOT with helpful information: Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention
