Cleburne continues a five year trend of reduction in violent and property crimes in 2017.
Police Chief Rob Severance III presented the Cleburne Police Department Annual Report to the City Council on June 26. In 2017, Cleburne saw a decrease in cases of robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft, compared to the previous year. Police have seen a 47.9-percent decrease in Part 1 crimes since 2012, which Chief Severance attributes a part of the decline to data-driven policing.
“We know we live in a community where we have a sense of safety,” Mayor Scott Cain said. “But when we see that number it shows our police are working to make us safer.”
Many municipalities, and the FBI, use Uniform Crime Reporting to measure crime statistics across the country. Uniform Crime Reporting records the number of Part 1 crimes, which includes murder, rape, robbery, aggravated, assaulted, burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft. In 2017, Cleburne Police saw 773 cases of these Part 1 crimes, compared to 859 in 2016 and 1,019 in 2015.
“These statistics say we’re welcoming to all except for one demographic – criminals,” Mayor Cain said.
Cleburne’s violent crime rate was about 33-percent lower than the violent crime rate in Texas and the city’s property crime rate was about 8-percent lower than the property crime rate in Texas in 2016. State numbers for 2017 have not yet been published.
“I am proud to work with a group of men and women who work hard to keep Cleburne such a safe community and who are always looking at ways to improve,” Chief Severance said. “A major part of our success is the people of Cleburne that support our work and want to live in a safe city.”
According to the report, the Police Department saw an increase in calls for service to 42,155 calls compared to 40,165 in 2016. Chief Severance attributes this to an increase in population and community policing, which allows residents to feel more comfortable working with the police. The report also highlighted other crime stats including the top 32 “arrested for” offenses in 2017, which include warrants, drug offenses, and alcohol related offenses.
See the complete report