Douglas Athas, Mayor-Elect

Although the number of violent incidents weren't much higher than most most months, the number did rise in May. Robbery and assault accounted for five of the reported incidents. Two of the robberies were the same night, after midnight, at the Town Center near the AMC Theatre. Two suspects were soon arrested and did give partial confessions. Neither suspect was from Garland.
 
The picture was just the opposite and much brighter for home burglaries, just two reported, the lowest of the last three years (or longer), at least four times lower than the average across that period (8.1/mo).
 
Vehicle burglaries (22) were the same as last month, a little higher than the three-year average (19.3/mo). However, unauthorized use of a vehicle was higher (5), more than double the three-year average (2.16/mo).
 
Thefts have been slowly rising over the last three years (average: 43.6/mo) but, at 45 in May, were about the same as we've seen the last few months and considerably lower than last Fall when the number of reported incidents hit 72. For May, two-thirds of the thefts were shoplifting cases for which arrests were made.
 
It would be improper to link crime to the economic situation the country currently faces unless there was evidence. There is no such evidence in District 1 (or Garland, to my knowledge). Reported incidents are as much as 20% lower than two years ago. Richard Cohen reports in the Washington Post that crime is down across the nation [backup link]. He says, "[T]hose disposed to attribute criminality to poverty—my view at one time—have some strenuous rethinking to do." He concludes, "[T]he latest crime statistics strongly suggest that bad times do not necessarily make bad people. Bad character does."
 
The article is timely and well worth reading. It's always good to reconsider and test our assumptions, no matter where we stand most days.
 
If you want to review the areas that have reported incidents over the last month, download the complete report here for address-by-address information that includes your neighborhood. If you are a Garland resident reading this but do not live in District 1, you can get reports for your area here on the Police Department's website.