2001 Executive Summary

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January 10, 2002 City Manager, Mayor, Council and Citizens: The following is a summary of the Police Department's 2001 fourth quarter/End of Year report, which covers the time period of January 1 to December 31, 2001. The Police Department uses the calendar year system in order to coincide with the F.B.I. Uniform Crime Report (UCR) instead of the budget calendar year system of the City. Part 1 Crimes, which include homicide, sexual assault, robbery, assault, burglary, theft and auto theft that occurred in the City of Sugar Land for the fourth quarter of 2001, experienced an overall decrease of 10 incidents when comparing the Oct-Dec 2001 period to the same time period in 2000. The decrease is due to a decrease in burglaries (66 from 96). There was a slight increase in the number of robberies, assaults and thefts. Overall, the year 2001 had a two percent increase (2%) in Part 1 Crimes (2,042 from 2,003) when comparing the year 2001 to the year 2000. The increase is mainly due to a increase in robberies (57 from 31) and assaults (292 from 267). Most of the assaults were family violence related and had no serious injuries occur. The number of burglaries decreased for the year (278 from 332).

When calculating the City's crime rate, Sugar Land had a Part 1 Crimes rate of 8.3 per 1,000 population during the Oct-Dec 2001 time period compared to 8.5 for the same period in 2000. This amounts to a 2.3% reduction in the crime rate per 1,000 population. It must be noted that a portion of the reduction is due to the increase in population used in determining the crime rates. (63,000 in 2000 to 63,687 in 2001, along with the actual 2% drop in the number of Part 1 Crimes. Due to the fact that the F.B.I.'s Uniform Crime Report for the year 2001 will not be published until October 2002, a comparison to other crime rates in the state and nation cannot be obtained. However, if the numbers remain consistent, Sugar Land's crime rate will remain well below that of Texas and the U.S. crime rates for 2001. The F.B.I. has released the UCR statistics for 2000. In 2000 Texas had a Part 1 Crime rate of 49.6 per 1,000 population. The U.S. had a Part 1 Crime rate of 41.2 per 1,000 population. For the same period Sugar Land had a Part 1 Crime rate of 28.5 per 1,000 population resulting in a crime rate 42% lower than the State and 31% lower than the U.S. Sugar Lands UCR Crime rate differs from that given in the other portions of this report due to the fact that the F.B.I. does not include simple assaults in UCR statistics.

When comparing crime in the City of Sugar Land from 2000 to 2001, the City had a increase in violent crime (homicide, sexual assault, robbery and assault). Robbery increased to 57 in 2001 from 31 in 2000 and assaults increased to 292 in 2001 from 267 in 2000. It should be noted that assaults account for more than 82% of the violent crimes in Sugar Land in 2001. Most of the assaults are simple assaults and family violence cases that occurred in the victim's home. These statistics show that a citizen's chance of being a victim of a violent crime while out in public areas is minimal. However, citizens should still take precautions to lessen their chances of becoming a victim.

Non-violent crimes (burglary, theft and auto theft) experienced a reduction of 10 cases when comparing 2001 to 2000. Burglaries decreased to 278 in 2001 from 332 in 2000. Thefts increased to 1,326 in 2001 from 1,298 in 2000 and auto thefts increased to 84 in 2001 from 68 in 2000. The decrease in the number of burglaries occurred in both the residential and business areas of the city. Residential burglaries decreased to 211 in 2001 compared to 237 in 2000. Business area burglaries decreased to 67 in 2001 from 95 in 2000. The method of entry for burglaries involving no forced entry increased to 53% in 2001 from 48% in 2000. The increase in no-force burglaries shows that a majority of burglaries are crimes of opportunity in which a door was either unlocked or left open. The department has taken and will continue steps to educate area homeowners and merchants about leaving doors open.

The number of minor vehicle accidents (no physical injury reported) increased to 1,381 from 1,157 when comparing the 2001 to 2000. The number of major vehicle accidents (physical injury reported) increased to 566 from 450 when comparing 2001 to 2000. These rates are due to continued high traffic, construction on Highway 59 and other major thoroughfares and drivers not controlling their speed. In order to address this, the department has continued strict enforcement of traffic related issues.

The department responded to a total of 54,905 calls for service during 2001 compared to 51,989 during 2000. Of these calls, 86% of Priority 1 calls (a call in which there exists an imminent threat to life and/or potentially severe property loss) were responded to by the patrol division in a 3:40 minute average response time.