Sugar Land Crime Rate Declines Over Five-Year Period

The Sugar Land Police Department’s 2008 Annual Report included an 8.2 percent increase in the City’s crime rate over 2007, though detectives cleared 13 percent more of their cases during 2008.

Categories largely responsible for Sugar Land’s overall crime rate increase were burglaries and thefts, both considered non-violent Part I crimes. The largest increase in burglaries occurred north of U.S. Highway 90A, where 108 burglaries were reported during 2008 compared to 58 in 2007. Vehicles burglaries increased 13 percent last year and contributed to Sugar Land’s spike in thefts.

Late last year, an investigative effort combined with extensive crime data analysis led police to obtain an arrest warrant for a man linked to a string of burglaries and thefts in northern Sugar Land. More than $5,000 in stolen property was recovered.

More recently, several men were arrested just after a residential burglary, and five men were arrested for vehicles burglaries that occurred at First Colony Mall and the AMC Theater.

SLPD’s focus on vehicle burglaries during 2008 included a special task force that saturated areas identified as “hot spots” – fitness centers, retail and residential areas. Impact teams comprised of patrol officers and detectives conducted special stings and surveillance operations, including the use of the department’s bait vehicle program.

“We continued to place a high priority on crime data analysis during 2008,” said Police Chief Steve Griffith. “Partnering detectives and crime analysts, we were able to expand our efforts, connecting incidents and criminals to create what we call a crime tree. What we found was that one arrest often leads to several more people and we’re able to clear a number of cases.”

Public education and community partnerships will continue to be a priority during 2009. Statistics from 2008 indicated there was no forced entry involved in more than 35 percent of the City’s reported burglaries. Oftentimes, front doors are unlocked and garages are left open.

The recent formation of a Neighborhood Crime Watch program in Ashford Lakes (located north of U.S. Highway 90A) was the result of extensive work during 2008 to solicit the community’s help to make neighborhoods safe through improved awareness and education.

Crime prevention officers and volunteers comprising SLPD’s Community Assistance Support Team routinely encourage citizens and owners of retail areas, especially shopping centers and fitness clubs, to help prevent vehicle burglaries through education. These efforts include reminders to avoid leaving expensive items in plain view. Valuables such as laptops, purses and GPS devices left on seats or dashboards make easy targets for thieves.

Residential robberies were down 26 percent during 2008, though a 10 percent increase in all City robberies was due to two additional bank robberies and two additional shoplifting incidents that involved physical altercations. Also contributing to the increase were nine robberies at gas stations and fast-food restaurants, four of which happened in December.

Among the department’s priorities for 2009 will be a continued focus on crime data analysis, partnerships and expanded technology, including further implementation of license plate recognition technology and an expansion of the City’s network of commercial and neighborhood surveillance cameras accessible from patrol cars.

“We are committed to a philosophy known as Intelligence-led policing,” said Griffith. “Rather than waiting for crimes to occur, it’s a proactive approach that emphasizes information gathering through the extensive use of confidential informants, offender interviews, analysis of recorded crime and calls for service, surveillance of suspects and community sources of information. Basically, it’s a model of policing in which intelligence serves as a guide to operations, rather than the reverse. As an agency, we will place a greater emphasis on information-sharing and collaborative, strategic solutions to crime problems at the local and regional level.”

View the entire SLPD 2008 Annual Report