Houston police have released crime statistics for 2017.
Overall crime was down 2.1 percent compared to the year before. The number of murders dropped 10.6 percent, robberies decreased 1.9 percent and non-violent crimes were down 4.3 percent in 2017.
Murder statistics:
- 269 total murders
- 53 gang-related, 43 family-related violence, nine murder-suicides, 17 narcotics-related, and 20 murders from robberies
- 35 percent of victims knew the suspect
HPD reported a 12.6 percent increase in sexual assaults last year. There was also a 13.8 percent increase in aggravated assaults. Seventy percent of aggravated assault victims knew their assailant.
“When 70 percent of people are committing aggravated assaults on people they know, that doesn’t speak to policing. That doesn’t speak to laws. That speaks to human decency and the way we treat each other,” said HPD Chief Art Acevedo during a press conference Monday.
Another area where Houston police struggled in 2017 was response times. According to HPD statistics, officers showed slower response times for lower level calls last year.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry we can’t get to the lower level calls - the burglary of a residence, the loud neighbor calls, the fireworks calls, the loud barking dog calls, the calls where no lives may be at risk. Those calls are quality of life calls for our community,” Acevedo said. “I’m sorry, but when you’re down to 5,100 officers in 2018, in a city that 20 years ago had 500,000 fewer residents but 300 more cops, it doesn’t add up.”
Acevedo said the way to reduce crime in Houston is to have a highly visible police force. He hopes to work with Mayor Sylvester Turner to hire more officers in 2018.