I reported earlier that the numbers behind our Uniform Crime Report were not accurate and had not been for several years. Police Chief Mitch Bates then reported on the computer problems at a Council work session. A subsequent article in the Dallas Morning News gave additional information. Then another DMN article cited statistics that rapes had risen 139%.
 
Not really.
 
Chief Bates clarified the discrepancies in a message to City Manager Bill Dollar and Council last week. The statistics in the article compares numbers in the current UCR to last year's report. We know that last year's report was inaccurate because of a computer coding problem and that the department is having to manually try to reconstruct the actual numbers.
 
Even though the latter DMN article refers to "rapes" that is also inaccurate. The category being reported is sexual assaults, which includes rapes but other crimes, too. Chief Bates explained, "The UCR standard (which is a national standard established for all 50 states even though the state laws vary greatly from state to state) define 'rape' in very specific terminology that accounts for only a portion of what Texas state law refers to as 'sexual assault.' The same issue occurs for all law enforcement agencies in Texas as well as all law enforcement agencies in other states (depending upon the specific definition in each state)."
 
There is no internal data that suggests sexual assualts have risen nearly as much as 139%.
 
So, how worried should Garland residents be? Sadly, that answer depends more on those around you than strangers in our commmunity. Rarely is sexual assault committed by a stranger. Almost all are committed by a family member, "friend," or someone else known to the victim or the victim’s family.
 
The best protection is to be aware and to use common sense to protect yourself and your family members from becoming a victim. Sexual assault or rape is a crime of violence that our Police Dept and our community takes very seriously. With the victim’s assistance and cooperation, we will do our best to apprehend such predators and seek to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
 
As emphasized, it is important to always be mindful of danger, whether the risk is sexual assault or any other crime, but citizens are not suddenly at higher risks today.