Fort Bend County – We know safety is a top priority for you and your families. That’s why we are looking into the crime data to see what is going on in different areas around Houston. From Fort Bend to Galveston and Montgomery Counties, we are looking at the types of crime many of you are dealing with.
How is the crime in Fort Bend County?
We start in Fort Bend County, where Sheriff Eric Fagan sat down with KPRC 2 Investigates to talk about what his deputies are seeing.
For example, homicides, rapes, and burglaries have all dropped.
“Crimes that are committed like assault, crimes without using deadly weapons have gone up, and we can’t contribute to some of this because of COVID, or people being locked into, you know, in homes and things like that. We see a lot of family violence that’s going on, and also assault. We’re seeing them in schools and things like that. So those types of crimes, yes, those numbers have ticked up,” says the Sheriff. “But, I’m happy to say the violent crimes were using weapons, assaults using weapons like knives or guns have actually gone down.”
All of this matches what we found with public data from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Looking closer at the neighborhoods in the county, Sugar Land saw a jump from 2021-2022 in crimes like theft and stolen cars. We saw similar trends in Missouri City and Richmond.
What is causing the rise in crime in Sugar Land, Missouri City and Richmond?
It might surprise you what could be causing the spike in crime in some areas in Fort Bend County.
“The Tic-Tock [challenges] like the Honda and Kia’s, is a crazy challenge out there about stealing these cars, and that’s bringing our auto theft up because of the Tic-Tock challenge on these Tic-Tock challenges about knock-outs. Run up to some individual and punching them without them knowing, these type of things. These kids need to know these are crimes. These are not just games when you do things like that. These are crimes that we will prosecute,” says Sheriff Fagan.
How is crime in Galveston County?
In Galveston County the year-to-date numbers from the Sheriff’s Office show a drop in crimes across the board. However, arrests for assaults are at 581, and theft is at 256 from September 2022, through September 2023.
How is crime in Montgomery County?
When we head up I-45 to Montgomery County, crime numbers haven’t made any mass drops or increases from 2021-2022. There was a small increase in crimes, but the data shows the jump came from thefts.
Looking at Conroe, the numbers were consistent with drops in thefts, assaults, and murders from 2021-2022. The city did see an increase in assaults and rapes.
Law enforcement across Southwest Texas says to be aware of where you are and what you’re doing.
Thursday, at 6p KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun shows us what the crime trends are in Harris County and the City of Houston.