Homicide rates in Houston are down 20%; ABC13 digs into the numbers
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The ABC13 Neighborhood Safety Tracker shows homicides in Houston are down more than 20% from where they were at this time in 2022.
Data also shows assaults, robberies, thefts, and burglaries have gone down in the previous 12 months.
That's all good news, but do those numbers tell the entire story when it comes to crime in Houston?
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that only about two in five violent crimes were reported to authorities in 2022.
That study also found that the number of people who said they were victims of a violent crime increased from 2021 to 2022.
Those findings indicate crime statistics across the country are often incomplete because many crimes aren't being reported.
That data is from a national perspective, but Amy Smith of the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council gave reasons why crimes could be going unreported in the Houston area.
Smith told ABC13 that the issue of offenders getting out on bond and committing crimes again has people less likely to call the police because they feel doing so would be pointless.
She added that language and nationality in the city could also play a role if crimes are going unreported.
"We have so many different languages and cultures, and so you aren't necessarily going to have a police officer that speaks the language (you do)," Smith said. "You also have a lot of immigrants that are here in our country that have fled from other cultures, and they have a fear of police."
In terms of getting more people to report crimes, the Houston Police Department's head of community affairs, Caroleta Johnson, told ABC13's news partners at the Houston Chronicle that they've been working harder to build trust in the community
"If you see something, you really need to say something," Johnson told the newspaper. "Research shows repeat offenders will continue until they are held accountable."
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