Burglaries on the Rise in Texas Cities

An insurance industry trade group reported that many Texas cities experienced a noticeable increase in the number of burglaries in 2003 as compared to 2002.

“The annual crime in Texas report compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety reveals that burglaries showed increases in such cities as Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, San Angelo, Mesquite, League City and Midland,” according to Jerry Johns, president of Southwestern Insurance Information Service.

“In Dallas burglaries jumped from 20, 351 in 2002 to 21,927 in 2003 while the number of burglaries in San Antonio rose from 13,368 to 14,619 during the same time period,” he said.

“The residential and business burglary rate seems to increase during an economic downturn,” he added.

“It was not just the larger cities in Texas experiencing an increase in the burglary rate,” Johns said. “In Abilene burglaries increased from 1,289 in 2002 to 1,814 in 2003 and the picture was not much brighter for people living in North Richland Hills where in 2002 there were 422 burglaries compared to 521 in 2003.”

Historically the summer months always seem to bring an increase in the burglary rate in Texas, he warned. Many times when people go on vacation they fail to take precautions that can reduce the chances of being burglarized.

“In Texas one burglary is committed every two and one-half minutes,” Johns explained. “An analysis of crime by volume indicated that the state-wide burglary rate increased 3.3 percent between 2002 and 2003 placing second behind an 8.6 percent increase in the murder rate.”

“Now is not the time to be complacent in protecting your property,” he advised. “People should talk to crime prevention officials with their local police or sheriff’s department about effective ways to prevent residential burglaries.”