Juvenile Crime Continues to Climb in San Angelo and State

SAN ANGELO, TX- Throughout the years, the San Angelo Police Department (SAPD) and Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office (TGCSO) have seen an increase in the number of juvenile crimes, and both agencies expect this trend will continue in 2017.

Tracy Gonzalez, Public Information Officer for the SAPD explained, “It is really hard to drill down number. For instance, if we get called to a scene and the offender is a juvenile, we count that as one involvement in the records management system, even if the juvenile is charged with four offenses during the investigation.”

Officer Gonzalez provided the number of juvenile crimes for both 2015 and 2016. In both 2015 and 2016, the number of juvenile involvement in crimes were 477 per year. With these numbers, Gonzalez mentioned that this could be misleading.

“Even though the involvement shows to be the same, you could have twice the amount of offenses occur in the one involvement/episode.”

Within San Angelo, Gonzalez reported that the top crimes for juveniles include Assault Family Violence, Narcotics, Runaway, Theft & Shoplifting and Disorderly Conduct.

Administrative Lieutenant Christina Lopez also confirmed that juvenile crime has increased within the past few years. With this trend, Lopez said, “For Tom Green County, according to the data we have collected, there is a strong indication that crimes from juveniles will continue to increase for 2017.”

The most common juvenile crimes in Tom Green County include drugs, vehicle thefts and assaults.

Luckily, Tom Green County did not make the list for Top Committing Counties to Texas Juvenile Justice Department detention centers. Lubbock County and Taylor County did make that list.

According to the 2016 TJJD Commitment Profile for Fiscal Years 2013 - 2016, there were 823 new admissions of juvenile criminals within the TJJD. The number for 2015 was 808, so there was a slight increase across the state as well.

Also, Hispanic and Black males continue to dominate the list of offenders at 43.1 and 37.6 percent. The age of top offenders are 16 years of age, and the top offenses fall under the second and first degree felony range.

The top committing offenses include the following:

• Aggravated Robbery: 16.8 percent
• Burglary: 13.4 percent
• Aggravated Assault: 9.4 percent
• Assault: 8.5 percent
• Aggravated Sexual Assault: 6.3 percent.

These offenses have remained the top ones since 2013. For more details on this report, click here.

Note: Brandy Ramirez contributed to this report.