Data Points
Research, Data, and Analysis Focused on Central Texas
Produced by the Capital Area Council of Governments
![]()
Author: Matt Holderread
Every year, the Texas Department of Public Safety publishes the Crime in Texas Report, which provides summary information on seven types of crimes tracked and reported 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 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, we’ve compiled this information into a series of data visualizations below which includes some observations on total 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, we calculate 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%. 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 and can be filtered by county to compare crime across the different jurisdictions in each county. The figure also contains a map with dots that represent the number of crimes committed in the jurisdiction (dot size) and the jurisdiction’s crime rate (dot color). Users can filter which jurisdictions are represented on this map based on their population. Lastly, the figure contains a 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.
There are a few trends that emerge in the data above. First, urban areas tend to have higher crime rates.
Along with observations about reported crime, we can also make a few observations about arrest rates and crime rates:
With a little extra work, we can compare arrests and clearance rates for agencies based on the number of residents under their jurisdiction.
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 below figure was created. It is similar in structure to the figure above, but contains information on violent crime rather than total crime.
Notably:
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.
More information can be taken from the above figure by using the filters and looking closer at the data. 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. If you would like to do this please visits the criminal justice resource page which contains figures similar to the ones in this blog for all 7 index crimes, as well as the two figures that appear hear, and one for property crime which is a subset of total crime for the crimes that do not involve an interaction between the victim and the offender. These crimes are burglary, larceny, and auto theft. CAPCOG uses this data as part of the regional Criminal Justice Planning process. We continue to work to provide the data the region’s stakeholders need to make informed decisions about criminal justice in the region. We also hope that by posting this data, we’re helping to make information about crime in the region more accessible. To that end, let us know if these figures are helpful. Definitely let us know if there are ways we can make these graphics more helpful. And keep an eye out for future Data Points posts to examine regional crime trends further.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Follow Data Points
AboutData Points is a blog dedicated to policy and planning issues in the Capital Area of Central Texas. It is produced by staff at the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG). Archives
April 2018
Categories
All
|