Spring Break
Streets become less safe
Police departments give statistics on Bryan and College Station crime rates
By: Teri Ruland
Issue date: 1/27/09 Section: News
The cities of Bryan and College Station have seen an increase in crime in the last year.
Bryan Police Department saw an overall increase of crime by two percent, while crime in College Station increased by 19 percent.
Though BPD was expecting a much larger increase in crime due to the education of community members, they experienced more service calls with about one percent actually being criminal activity.
"We knew there'd be an increase of crimes reported," Officer Jason B. James of Bryan Police Department said.
What he didn't expect was the increase of crime to be such a small number.
"When Chief Morrow came, he created the Neighborhood Enforcement Team to have direct contact with the public," James said.
He attributes the increase of reported crimes to service calls made by the community.
"We want [the community] to report more crimes so we can reduce it in the future. We're trying to build partnership with the public so they call in," James said.
The goal was to target repeat offenders to reduce crime. He said there are monthly meetings about the habitual criminals to try to target them in order to reduce the crime in the community.
There are other ways that have been implemented to reduce criminal activity, James said.
"We're trying to educate the public. An officer educates them on how to prevent crime," he said.
The Bryan Police Department has even gone so far as to implement a program called VIPER (Visibility, Intelligence, Partnerships, Education, Resourcing) to help with the communities and reduction of crime.
"We're trying to teach students to not leave their books, iPods or GPS in their cars and to lock their cars," James said.
Officer James said the best way to prevent crimes from occurring is by not giving a criminal an opportunity to steal personal belongings.
"Just stop and look around," said Officer Rhonda Seaton of CSPD. "A lot of times people get out of their vehicles and look to where they're going. Instead of focusing on your apartment door, look around."
Bryan Police Department saw an overall increase of crime by two percent, while crime in College Station increased by 19 percent.
Though BPD was expecting a much larger increase in crime due to the education of community members, they experienced more service calls with about one percent actually being criminal activity.
"We knew there'd be an increase of crimes reported," Officer Jason B. James of Bryan Police Department said.
What he didn't expect was the increase of crime to be such a small number.
"When Chief Morrow came, he created the Neighborhood Enforcement Team to have direct contact with the public," James said.
He attributes the increase of reported crimes to service calls made by the community.
"We want [the community] to report more crimes so we can reduce it in the future. We're trying to build partnership with the public so they call in," James said.
The goal was to target repeat offenders to reduce crime. He said there are monthly meetings about the habitual criminals to try to target them in order to reduce the crime in the community.
There are other ways that have been implemented to reduce criminal activity, James said.
"We're trying to educate the public. An officer educates them on how to prevent crime," he said.
The Bryan Police Department has even gone so far as to implement a program called VIPER (Visibility, Intelligence, Partnerships, Education, Resourcing) to help with the communities and reduction of crime.
"We're trying to teach students to not leave their books, iPods or GPS in their cars and to lock their cars," James said.
Officer James said the best way to prevent crimes from occurring is by not giving a criminal an opportunity to steal personal belongings.
"Just stop and look around," said Officer Rhonda Seaton of CSPD. "A lot of times people get out of their vehicles and look to where they're going. Instead of focusing on your apartment door, look around."
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