Only Some Of The Crime In Amarillo Is On The Rise, Overall Crime Has Decreased

Considering all the horrible stories we've been seeing, the crime rate in Amarillo is not on the rise, but actually heading in the opposite direction!  All I'll say is, you could've fooled me!

While we're seeing a 4.3% crease in "part 1 crimes", the overall crime rate, based on Burglary, homicides and more, is down 23.8%!  Again, you could've fooled me!

Amarillo Police

"APD Chief Robert Taylor presented the Department’s 2013 Annual Report to the Amarillo City Council.  The 2013 figures showed a 4.3% increase in Part 1 Crimes over 2012.  Despite this year’s increase, Amarillo’s crime rate has decreased 23.8% over the last seven years.  The eight categories of crime used to measure the rate are:  Aggravated Assault, Arson, Auto Theft, Burglary, Homicide, Rape, Robbery, and Theft.  The increase was most visible in auto theft, with 785 reports in 2013 compared to 623 in 2012.  Auto theft investigators report that a large majority of stolen cars had the keys left in them.  Theft also showed an increase, with 6490 in 2013 compared to 6174 in 2012.  Other areas showed very little change.  Amarillo reported 29 traffic fatalities and 10 homicides last year.  Response to high priority calls, including those involving a crime in progress, was 11.52 minutes in 2013 compared to 10.85 minutes in 2012.  Officers responded to 129,116 calls for service last year.  The full report is on the APD web site, http://police.amarillo.gov/ .  Click on the tab marked “Reports” and then to “Annual Reporting.”

So, while we see stories online, and think how crime is getting a lot worse, we can keep our glass half full here!  Crime is on the down side, and that's always good news!