Waller County Crime Update

Have you ever wondered to yourself what kind of crimes occur around you, in your neighborhood, and in your home county of Waller County in particular? Here is a snapshot of the approximate percentages of person on person crime that we have handled in the last three months. Of course, even though homicide/manslaughter cases are a low percentage (thankfully) those cases take up a disproportionate amount of a prosecutor’s time because of their seriousness and the work involved in preparing them for trial and the time spent with the victim’s families. These numbers do not include the hundreds and hundreds of drug cases involving possession/sale of illegal substances.

Assault – 49%

Sexual Assault of Adults – 2%

Arson – 0.5%

Burglaries – 7%

Child Abuse/Neglect – 6%

Child Sexual Abuse – 6%

Domestic Violence – 5%

Elder Abuse – 2%

Identity Theft – 2%

Kidnapping – 0.5%

Theft – 4%

Vehicle Thefts – 4%

Robbery – 2%

Stalking – 1%

Criminal Mischief/Trespass – 4%

Terroristic Threat – 2%

Indecent Exposure .05%

Murder/Manslaughter – 2%

Improper Sexual Relationship between Teacher and Student – .05%

Recently at the National District Attorney’s Assocation Conference, speakers indicated that crime organizations, particularly organized theft rings pick and choose which cities/counties to target based upon the strength of the local prosecutor/court system. At the same conference, representatives from Macy’s Department Stores indicated that approximately sixty percent of their retail employees had witnessed a violent theft in their stores during the last calendar year. It is very important for our community that as Houston encroaches on our borders that we continue to invest in our law enforcement and court system. Otherwise, over the next twenty years we will see a significant jump in the percentages of violent thefts/robberies and assaultive offenses of strangers on strangers.