During the summer months, crime rates typically increase due to warmer weather and more kids being out and about. During the COVID-19 pandemic, local police are seeing the same trend.
“Its not abnormal to what we would see in the summer time months. We are just seeing it a little bit sooner now. But because it is the same similar type crime trends that we are seeing, we are already prepared to react for that,” said Garen Bynum with the Waco Police Department.
Waco and College Station Police Departments, along with the Bell County Sheriff's Office, all reported that domestic violence cases are on the rise, as well as theft, such as car break-ins, but only by a slight increase.
“The domestic violence, when you pulled up the charts they really overlapped each other. The burglaries, you would expect with the population decreasing in town to see those decrease, and they haven't. Its really been about the same,” said Tristan Lopez.
With more people staying at home, the departments have definitely seen a decrease in home burglaries and DWI’s. Bryan Police Department even says they are down in aggravated assault cases. But no matter the crimes, all departments are ready and responding.
“Even though we are seeing these trends, we are not stopping our investigations. Our criminal investigations are still remaining the same. Whats going to happen is these people are going to go to jail. If they are doing these crimes, they are absolutely going to go to jail. It may not happen today. It may not happen this week, but when everything goes back to normal they are absolutely going to go to jail,” said Bynum.
While we all wait for things to go back to normal, you can be sure our law enforcement officers will continue to keep everyone safe until Central Texans can be back on the streets.
Waco police told KXXV that if you suspect something or see something out of place to feel free to call them. Waco police are still sending an officer out to every call.