League City has seen a decline in most types of crime over the past seven years, and that trend is continuing so far this year, according to statistics from the city’s police department.
“We are generally seeing a decrease in citizen calls for service,” said Cory Beyer, a data analysis detective with the department who added that crime nationwide has been on the decline for years.
As of late July, the city had 2,643 reported crimes, compared to 5,577 for 2015.
Larceny cases, which numbered 1,547 in 2015, were at 549 in late July. Counterfeiting/forgery dropped from 97 reports in 2015 to 23 for the first seven months of this year.
Of note is that there was a 12 percent overall decrease from 2018 to 2019 in the category of offenses labeled as “Group A” crimes by the National Incident-Based Reporting System that include arson, burglary, human trafficking, sex crimes, kidnapping, weapons violations and homicide. Nearly all Group A crimes have continued to occur this year below 2018 levels.
Group B offenses, which include nonviolent family offenses, disorderly conduct, runaways, loitering and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs have declined, on average, by 146 each year since 2015.
Stolen property cases increase
But not all types of crime have gone down. Cases of stolen property have increased after numbering in single digits until 2019. But those cases jumped to 49 for 2020 and to 22 so far this year.
Beyer said the department has seen a jump in theft of catalytic converters as the price of precious metals has risen.
Police also are on alert for new trends in criminal activity. Criminals have followed League City residents home from the Galleria area in Houston, he said. In one such “jugging” case in which Jeffrey Johnson died after being shot by robbery suspects late June 10 in his garage.
Police said surveillance footage showed that an SUV followed Johnson and his wife as they drove to return from The Capital Grille at 5365 Westheimer Road. No arrests have been made in the case.
“When you’re talking about policing, you have to consider what is going on outside your community and you have to be aware of new crime trends that will pop up,” Beyer said.
The city posts an online map detailing crime by subdivision and type of offense at https://bityl.co/8nZi, with larceny/theft crimes tallying the largest percentage of offenses by category from 2018 to now at 22.96 percent, followed by assault at 15.52 percent.
Police Chief Gary Ratliff noted that the city has been recognized a number of times as having one of the lowest crime rates in Texas and, in 2019, was hailed as the safest city in the state with more than 100,000 residents and the 38th-safest city overall. The ranking was generated by home security company Safewise as part of its 2019 Safest Cities in Texas list.
According to its website, SafeWise uses FBI crime statistics data for its safe city rankings.
SafeWise, in 2019, also named League City as the 18th safest place in America to raise a child. Other accolades include the 2020 designations by SmartAsset calling the city the 16th most livable mid-sized city in America and by AdvisorSmith naming League City as the fourth-safest large-sized Texas city.
SmartAsset offers financial services, and AdvisorSmith serves as a resource to small businesses.
Focus on a proactive approach
Through an approach called intelligence-led policing, the department focuses on particular people, places and crime trends when determining how to allocate its resources.
Ratliff said his department also relies on a crime analyst to look at trends and give officers data so that they can formulate a plan to address crime, preferably before it happens.
“It is a responsibility for everyone to have a plan to move forward and be as proactive as possible,” Ratliff said. “If you’re reactive, then you’re behind the gun.”
In addition to assigning police resources to areas where the department suspects potential crimes may occur, it will also reach out to what Ratliff called “prolific offenders” with a letter.
“The letter is letting (them) know that if they have any issues that are causing them to be an offender, such as drugs or unemployment, that we want to provide our social workers’ contact (information) to get them resources to help them with their situation,” he said.
Beyer, who has been with the department for 16 years of his 22 in law enforcement, expanded on the department’s approach.
“We try to comb through reports and try to sift out those events that are actionable; so if there is a pattern of offending at a certain area at a certain time, we can mobilize units to address that issue,” he said. “It’s really dynamic policing.”
Police conduct outreach efforts
Both men said the police department, like others around the country, faced challenges in the wake of the George Floyd murder on May 25, 2020 at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Ratliff channeled the awareness to promote his efforts to create a citizen’s Diversity Advisory Board for the department to represent the community it serves and enhance recruiting of police officers.
Beyer said the killing, which has so far resulted in a guilty verdict on murder and manslaughter charges for one of the police officers charged in the crime, did have some effect in League City.
“Of course there was a lot of anger from some people and there were lots of questions but, by and large, I’d say we have great support from our community,” he said. “Lots of people will come in and take our (Citizen’s Police Academy) classes or offer food to us during emergencies. “
To keep the lines of communications open, the department regularly engages with the city’s homeowners’ associations and runs a community outreach division. Officers also participate in National Night Out events, which fosters police and community connections and is scheduled for Oct. 5. For more information on Night Out planning, visit https://bityl.co/8nly.
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