Crime, Cops, And CAPCOG: Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics For The Capital Area

Every year, the Texas Department of Public Safety publishes the Crime in Texas Report, which provides summary information on 7 types of crimes tracked and reported on by law enforcement agencies that participate in Uniform Crime Reporting.

These crimes include: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and auto theft. The uniformity of this reporting makes it easy to compare crime across the different law enforcement jurisdictions in Texas.

In October 2017, the 2016 report was released. It contains information on the number of crimes reported, crimes cleared, and arrests made under each of the 7 index crimes.

Comparing crime data across all jurisdictions in the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) region can be useful to get a picture of crime trends and issues in the region’s different communities.

Because the information provided in the Crime in Texas Report is presented in a format that makes analyzing the Capital Area difficult, CAPCOG compiled this information into a series of data visualizations below.

Below you will find some observations on totals and violent crime in the CAPCOG region. Additional information and data on specific types of crime has been made available on CAPCOG’s Criminal Justice Resource Page.

Before discussing the data itself, there are a few important facets of the data to note. One difficulty when comparing crime across jurisdiction is differences in populations.

To account for these differences across jurisdictions, CAPCOG calculated the crime rate, which presents crimes per 100,000 residents.

Looking at crime rates allows for more useful comparisons across jurisdictions, but it is also worth pointing out that in communities with small populations, a single crime has a very large impact on the crime rate.

For example, each crime reported by the Austin PD (956,911 residents) increases their crime rate by around 0.1; while each crime reported in Mustang Ridge (990 residents) or Lexington (1,183 residents) increases the crime rate of those jurisdictions by around 100.

Another challenge when working with crime rates is that Independent School Districts (ISD) and University Police Departments do not have any permanent residents, so calculating a crime rate per 100,000 residents is not possible.

Additionally, crime rates, which normalize data based on resident population, do not necessarily do a good job of accounting for non-resident activity.

For example, if a small community is a large retail destination (e.g., Sunset Valley in Travis County), the resident population is a poor proxy for the total number of people in the community at any one time. As a general rule, small communities with lots of non-resident activity will have higher crime rates.

The Crime in Texas Report also contains information on the number of arrests made and number of crimes cleared by each reporting agency in the Capital Area. Because it is hard to compare the number of arrests and clearances across jurisdictions with differences in the number of crimes committed, arrest rates and clearance rates per crime are typically used for comparisons.

In 2016, the CAPCOG region had a 16% arrest rate and a 20% clearance rate for all crimes. For violent crimes, the arrest and clearance rates were 43% and 49%, respectively.

For context, nationwide, total crime arrest and clearance rates are slightly higher, at 20% and 22%, respectively. National violent crime arrest and clearance rates are slightly lower than the rates in the Capital Area, at 41% and 46%.

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Total Crime

Total crime is the sum total of all of the incidents of the 7 index crimes in the Crime in Texas Report.

The figure below contains a table with information on the total number of crimes reported, the rate of crime per 100,000 residents in the jurisdiction, and the number and percent of crimes cleared and arrests made by law enforcement agencies.

This table can be used to find information about total crime in any jurisdiction in the CAPCOG region.

Can’t see the whole table? Touch it and scroll right.

TOTAL CRIME BY JURISDICTION IN 2016
z
AGENCY COUNT PER 100,000 RESIDENTS ARRESTS
RATE OF ARREST
CLEARANCES RATE OF CLEARANCE
AUSTIN ISD PD 426 0.0 47 11% 134 31%
AUSTIN PD 37,478 3,916.5 4,305 11% 6,108 16%
BASTROP CO PD 1,047 1,723.3 91 9% 183 17%
BASTROP ISD PD 90 0.0 35 39% 90 100%
BASTROP PD 588 6,961.1 231 39% 271 46%
BEE CAVE PD 153 2,220.3 32 21% 28 18%
BERTRAM PD 5 357.7 0 0% 0 0%
BLANCO CO SO 61 854.3 14 23% 27 44%
BLANCO PD 25 1,306.9 10 40% 6 24%
BUDA PD 286 1,851.2 129 45% 123 43%
BURNET CO SO 327 1,318.4 28 9% 18 6%
BURNET PD 125 1,987.9 25 20% 66 53%
CALDWELL CO SO 176 890.8 22 13% 14 8%
CEDAR PARK PD 1,080 1,564.1 165 15% 265 25%
ELGIN PD 214 2,318.7 75 35% 76 36%
FAYETTE CO SO 148 920.3 27 18% 16 11%
FLATONIA PD 12 854.7 4 33% 3 25%
FLORENCE PD 3 240.3 3 100% 3 100%
GEORGETOWN PD 790 1,171.4 242 31% 270 34%
GIDDINGS PD 128 2,508.8 28 22% 36 28%
GRANGER PD 17 1,106.8 1 6% 3 18%
GRANITE SHOAL PD
56 1,097.2 8 14% 23 41%
HAYS CO SO 1,039 1,220.2 216 21% 177 17%
HORSESHOE BAY PD
47 1,311.1 6 13% 10 21%
HUTTO PD 196 811.2 10 5% 37 19%
JARRELL PD 14 1,157.9 1 7% 1 7%
JOHNSON CITY PD 6 296.9 2 33% 3 50%
JONESTOWN PD 34 1,639.3 20 59% 18 53%
KYLE PD 689 1,841.9 163 24% 192 28%
LA GRANGE PD 102 2,157.5 47 46% 15 15%
LAGO VISTA PD 103 1,550.5 14 14% 41 40%
LAKEWAY PD 221 1,496.0 42 19% 41 19%
LEANDER PD
501
1,232.4
122
24
112
22
LEE CO SO
120
1,129.6
36
30
26
22
LEXINGTON PD 33 2,789.4 6 18% 11 33%
LLANO CO SO 143 1,103.1 37 26% 23 16%
LLANO PD (NR) 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
LOCKHART PD 354 2,604.9 71 20% 69 19%
LULING PD 136 2,329.6 71 52% 34 25%
MANOR PD 315 3,841.6 128 41% 106 34%
MARBLE FALLS PD 321 5,076.8 106 33% 105 33%
MARTINDALE PD 1 80.8 0 0% 0 0%
MUSTANG RIDGE PD
11 1,111.1 4 36% 3 27%
PFLUGERVILLE ISD PD 55 0.0 21 38% 40 73%
PFLUGERVILLE PD 1,092 1,851.7 458 42% 431 39%
ROLLINGWOOD PD 6 382.2 0 0% 0 0%
ROUND ROCK PD 2,826 2,368.7 544 19% 682 24%
SAN MARCOS PD 2,231 3,465.5 728 33% 572 26%
SCHULENBURG PD 90 3,060.1 16 18% 18 20%
SMITHVILLE PD 156 3,751.0 21 13% 33 21%
SOUTHWESTERN UPD
24 0.0 0 0% 11 46%
SUNRISE BEACH PD
9 1,226.2 0 0% 0 0%
SUNSET VALLEY PD
144 20,338.9 49 34% 49 34%
TAYLOR PD 463 2,727.0 116 25% 125 27%
TEXAS STATE UPD 172 0.0 26 15% 24 14%
THRALL PD 14 1,495.7 3 21% 6 43%
TRAVIS CO SO 4,023 2,005.9 1247 31% 876 22%
UT AUSTIN PD 350 0.0 35 10% 51 15%
WEST LAKE HILLS PD
77 2,288.9 9 12% 18 23%
WILLIAMSON CO SO 1,541 1,231.8 134 9% 262 17%

The figure also contains a map with dots that represent the number of crimes committed in the jurisdiction (dot size) and the jurisdiction crime rate (dot color).

Lastly, the second map, which, rather than examining jurisdictions, provides information on crime, arrest, and clearance for each county in the CAPCOG region. This map is color coded so that counties with the lowest crime rates are dark green, and the counties with the highest crime rates are dark red.

TOTAL CRIME BY JURISDICTION

Map by CAPCOG- Data Points

Map by CAPCOG- Data Points

 

There are a few trends that emerge in the data above. First, urban areas tend to have higher crime rates.

 

  • The 18 highest crime rates in the region and 19 of the 20 highest rates in the Capital Area were reported by city police departments.

 

  • County sheriffs departments, which tend to serve more rural populations, reported lower crime rates. Of the Capital Areas 10 counties, 8 county sheriffs departments reported crime rates that place them in the bottom 20 among all jurisdictions.

 

  • The cities that make up the top 10 highest crime rates in the region are geographically dispersed. Seven of the 10 CAPCOG counties host a city with a crime rate in the region’s top 10.

° Only Blanco County, Caldwell County (Lockhart is 11th), and Llano County (the City of Llano did not report) are without a city in the top 10.

  • Of the 12 jurisdictions in the region with over 25,000 residents, 8 have a crime rate higher than the regions median crime rate of 1,314.8.

° 3 of the 4 agencies with greater than 25,000 residents and a crime rate below the median rate are in Williamson County, these are the Leander PD, the Georgetown PD, and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office. The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is the other agency in this group.

  • Only 4 jurisdictions in the CAPCOG region contain over 100,000 residents. Of those, only the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office had a crime rate below 2,000 in 2016. The 2 cities, Round Rock and Austin, had higher crime rates than the 2 counties in that group.

 

Along with observations about reported crime, we can also make a few observations about arrest rates and crime rates:

  • High arrest rates (arrests per crime) tend to be correlated with higher crime rates. 7 of the 10 agencies with the highest arrest rates have a crime rate greater than the median for the region.

 

  • 8 of the 10 agencies with the lowest arrest rates have a crime rate below the median crime rate in the CAPCOG region. Half of these agencies made 0 arrests in 2016.

 

  • No university police department in the region had an arrest rate above the regional median. On the other hand, 2 of the 3 school district police departments had arrest rates above this median.

 

With a little extra work, we can compare arrests and clearance rates for agencies based on the number of residents under their jurisdiction.

  • The optimal community size may be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 residents, at least based on arrest and clearance rates. All jurisdictions within this population range reported an arrest rate, a clearance rate, or both that were above the regional median.

 

  • Larger populations show a dip in clearance rates. Over 50% of jurisdictions with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 were above the regional median for arrest rate, but only a quarter of these jurisdictions are above the median clearance rate.

 

  • Smaller communities make arrests and clear crimes at a lower rate. Of the 17 jurisdictions with between 1,000 and 5,000 residents in the Capital Area, only 7 have either an arrest rate or clearance rates above the regions median rate.

More information can be taken from the above figure by using the filters and looking closer at the data.

Violent Crime

Violent crime, which is the subset of total crime where the victim is physically harmed, includes: murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. These crimes make up about 11% of all index crimes reported in 2016.

As with total crime, the Austin PD (3,903) reported more violent crimes than the rest of region combined (2,831). The median violent crime rate for the region is 155.1, and the median arrest rate is 36% for violent crimes.

The median clearance rate for violent crime by CAPCOG jurisdictions is 50%, more than double the median clearance rate for total crime.

In order to compare violent crime across the different jurisdictions and counties in the Capital Area, the figure below was created. It is similar in structure to the figure above, but contains information on violent crime rather than total crime.

Can’t see the whole table? Touch it and scroll right.

VIOLENT CRIME BY JURISDICTION IN 2016
zzz
AGENCY COUNT PER 100,000 RESIDENTS ARRESTS
RATE OF ARREST
CLEARANCES RATE OF CLEARANCE
AUSTIN ISD PD 17 0.0 11 65% 13 76%
AUSTIN PD 3,903 407.9 1,156 30% 1,776 46%
BASTROP CO PD 225 370.3 50 22% 103 46%
BASTROP ISD PD 59 0.0 3 5% 59 100%
BASTROP PD 40 473.5 15 38% 24 60%
BEE CAVE PD 11 159.6 2 18% 4 36%
BERTRAM PD 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
BLANCO CO SO 12 168.1 6 50% 13 108%
BLANCO PD 4 209.1 5 125% 1 25%
BUDA PD 13 84.1 7 54% 7 54%
BURNET CO SO 51 205.6 19 37% 14 27%
BURNET PD 22 349.9 10 45% 19 86%
CALDWELL CO SO 35 177.1 11 31% 9 26%
CEDAR PARK PD 116 168.0 37 32% 57 49%
ELGIN PD 32 346.7 18 56% 16 50%
FAYETTE CO SO 11 68.4 14 127% 10 91%
FLATONIA PD 1 71.2 2 200% 1 100%
FLORENCE PD 0 0.0 0 0% 0 N/A
GEORGETOWN PD 85 126.0 48 56% 58 68%
GIDDINGS PD 18 352.8 5 28% 7 39%
GRANGER PD 1 65.1 0 0% 2 200%
GRANITE SHOAL PD
7 137.1 1 14% 5 71%
HAYS CO SO 157 184.4 79 50% 84 54%
HORSESHOE BAY PD
10 278.9 3 30% 5 50%
HUTTO PD 18 74.5 4 22% 8 44%
JARRELL PD 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
JOHNSON CITY PD 1 49.5 1 100% 1 100%
JONESTOWN PD 3 144.6 11 367% 2 67%
KYLE PD 77 205.8 31 40% 57 74%
LA GRANGE PD 29 613.4 18 62% 8 28%
LAGO VISTA PD 35 526.9 6 17% 26 74%
LAKEWAY PD 18 121.9 11 61% 12 67%
LEANDER PD 46 113.2 19 41% 21 46%
LEE CO SO 16 150.6 12 75% 10 63%
LEXINGTON PD 6 507.2 3 50% 5 83%
LLANO CO SO 11 84.9 22 200% 9 82%
LLANO PD (NR) 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
LOCKHART PD 36 264.9 16 44% 15 42%
LULING PD 25 428.2 13 52% 7 28%
MANOR PD 36 439.0 12 33% 16 44%
MARBLE FALLS PD 23 363.8 0 0% 5 22%
MARTINDALE PD 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
MUSTANG RIDGE PD
1 101.0 0 0% 1 100%
PFLUGERVILLE ISD PD 14 0.0 7 50% 13 93%
PFLUGERVILLE PD 144 244.2 99 69% 108 75%
ROLLINGWOOD PD 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
ROUND ROCK PD 173 145.0 43 25% 69 40%
SAN MARCOS PD 227 352.6 73 32% 64 28%
SCHULENBURG PD 23 782.0 8 35% 10 43%
SMITHVILLE PD 19 456.8 4 21% 8 42%
SOUTHWESTERN UPD
0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
SUNRISE BEACH PD
1 136.2 0 0% 0 0%
SUNSET VALLEY PD
8 1,129.9 4 50% 3 38%
TAYLOR PD 32 188.5 20 63% 22 69%
TEXAS STATE UPD 3 0.0 3 100% 3 100%
THRALL PD 6 641.0 1 17% 2 33%
TRAVIS CO SO 684 341.1 857 125% 424 62%
UT AUSTIN PD 13 0 6 46% 9 69%
WEST LAKE HILLS PD
1 29.7 0 0% 0 0%
WILLIAMSON CO SO 175 139.9 62 35% 97 55%

The figure also contains a map with dots that represent the number of crimes committed in the jurisdiction (dot size) and the jurisdiction crime rate (dot color).

Lastly, the second map, which, rather than examining jurisdictions, provides information on crime, arrest, and clearance for each county in the CAPCOG region. This map is color coded so that counties with the lowest crime rates are dark green, and the counties with the highest crime rates are dark red.

VIOLENT CRIME BY JURISDICTION

Map by CAPCOG- Data Points

Map by CAPCOG- Data Points

Notably

  • Of the 60 total agencies in the Capital Area, 7 agencies reported no violent crimes and 6 more agencies reported only one violent crime in 2016.

 

  • The Granite Shoals PD is the only agency with a jurisdiction of over 5,000 residents to report less than 10 violent crimes in 2016.

 

  • Although the total number of violent crimes in small communities is low, the 10 highest violent crime rates in 2016 were from cities that had fewer than 10,000 residents. The Austin PD reported the 11th highest violent crime rate in the region.

 

  • 9 of the 10 jurisdictions with populations between 5,000 and 10,000 residents had a violent crime rate greater than the median rate for the Capital Area.

 

  • Violent crime rates for agencies reporting at least 10 violent crimes, range from 68.4 by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office to 782.0 by the Schulenburg PD. Interestingly, Schulenburg is a city in Fayette County.

 

Next we can take a look at some observations on violent crime arrest rates and clearance rates. One detail about the data – it is possible for arrest and clearance rates to exceed 100%.

This occurs when arrests or clearances are made for crimes committed in a previous year or when multiple arrests are made in relation to a single crime.

  • For violent crimes 6 agencies in the Capital Area made more arrests than were reported in their jurisdiction, and 2 agencies cleared more violent crimes than were reported.

 

  • 7 of the 8 agencies serving jurisdictions with populations between 10,000 and 20,000 residents have a violent crime arrest rate greater than the median rate.

 

  • Only 1 of the 4 agencies with a jurisdiction of 20,000 to 50,000 had a violent crime clearance rate greater than the median rate in 2016, the Kyle Police Department.

 

  • In the Capital Area, 5 of the 6 campus police departments had a violent crime clearance rate above the median rate for jurisdictions in the region.

More information can be taken from the above figure by using the filters and looking closer at the data.

Property Crime

Property crime, which is a subset of total crime that does not involve an interaction between the victim and the offender. These crimes are burglary, larceny, and auto theft.

Can’t see the whole table? Touch it and scroll right.

PROPERTY CRIME BY JURISDICTION IN 2016
zzz
AGENCY COUNT PER 100,000 RESIDENTS ARRESTS
RATE OF ARREST
CLEARANCES RATE OF CLEARANCE
AUSTIN ISD PD 409 0.0 36 9% 121 30%
AUSTIN PD 33,575 3,508.7 3,149 9% 4,332 13%
BASTROP CO PD 822 1,353.0 41 5% 80 10%
BASTROP ISD PD 31 0.0 32 103% 31 100%
BASTROP PD 548 6,487.5 216 39% 247 45%
BEE CAVE PD 142 2,060.7 30 21% 24 17%
BERTRAM PD 5 357.7 0 0% 0 0%
BLANCO CO SO 49 686.3 8 16% 14 29%
BLANCO PD 21 1,097.8 5 24% 5 24%
BUDA PD 273 1,767.1 122 45% 116 42%
BURNET CO SO 276 1,112.8 9 3% 4 1%
BURNET PD 103 1,638.0 15 15% 47 46%
CALDWELL CO SO 141 713.6 11 8% 5 4%
CEDAR PARK PD 964 1,396.1 128 13% 208 22%
ELGIN PD 182 1,972.0 57 31% 60 33%
FAYETTE CO SO 137 852.0 13 9% 6 4%
FLATONIA PD 11 783.5 2 18% 2 18%
FLORENCE PD 3 240.2 3 100% 3 100%
GEORGETOWN PD 705 1,045.4 194 28% 212 30%
GIDDINGS PD 110 2,156.0 23 21% 29 26%
GRANGER PD 16 1,041.7 1 6% 1 6%
GRANITE SHOAL PD
49 960.0 7 14% 18 37%
HAYS CO SO 882 1,035.7 137 16% 93 11%
HORSESHOE BAY PD
37 1,032.1 3 8% 5 14%
HUTTO PD 178 736.8 6 3% 29 16%
JARRELL PD 14 1,158.0 1 7% 1 7%
JOHNSON CITY PD 5 247.4 1 20% 2 40%
JONESTOWN PD 31 1,494.7 9 29% 16 52%
KYLE PD 612 1,636.1 132 22% 135 22%
LA GRANGE PD 73 1,544.0 29 40% 7 10%
LAGO VISTA PD 68 1,023.6 8 12% 15 22%
LAKEWAY PD 203 1,374.3 31 15% 29 14%
LEANDER PD 455 1,119.3 103 23% 91 20%
LEE CO SO 104 979.0 24 23% 16 15%
LEXINGTON PD 27 2,282.3 3 11% 6 22%
LLANO CO SO 132 1,018.4 15 11% 14 11%
LLANO PD (NR) 0 0.0 0 0% 0 0%
LOCKHART PD 318 2,340.0 55 17% 54 17%
LULING PD 111 1,901.3 58 52% 27 24%
MANOR PD 279 3,402.4 116 42% 90 32%
MARBLE FALLS PD 298 4,713.0 106 36% 100 34%
MARTINDALE PD 1 80.8 0 0% 0 0%
MUSTANG RIDGE PD
10 1,010.1 4 40% 2 20%
PFLUGERVILLE ISD PD 41 0.0 14 34% 27 66%
PFLUGERVILLE PD 948 1,607.5 359 38% 323 34%
ROLLINGWOOD PD 6 3,82.2 0 0% 0 0%
ROUND ROCK PD 2,653 2,223.7 501 19% 613 23%
SAN MARCOS PD 2,004 3,112.8 655 33% 508 25%
SCHULENBURG PD 67 2,278.1 8 12% 8 12%
SMITHVILLE PD 137 3,294.1 17 12% 25 18%
SOUTHWESTERN UPD
24 0.0 0 0% 11 46%
SUNRISE BEACH PD
8 1,089.9 0 0% 0 0%
SUNSET VALLEY PD
136 19,209.0 45 33% 46 34%
TAYLOR PD 431 2,538.4 96 22% 103 24%
TEXAS STATE UPD 169 0.0 23 14% 21 12%
THRALL PD 8 854.7 2 25% 4 50%
TRAVIS CO SO 3,339 1,664.9 390 12% 452 14%
UT AUSTIN PD 337 0.0 29 9% 42 12%
WEST LAKE HILLS PD
76 2,259.2 9 12% 18 24%
WILLIAMSON CO SO 1,366 1,092.0 72 5% 165 12%

 

PROPERTY CRIME BY JURISDICTION

Map by CAPCOG- Data Points

Map by CAPCOG- Data Points

Next Steps

The next step in looking at crime in the region for 2016 is to look each individual index crime and identify outliers and trends for each specific crime. CAPCOG uses this data as part of the regional Criminal Justice Planning process. 


 

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