As the pandemic gripped McAllen like the rest of the country and the world, crime here mostly decreased last year.
Those are the findings of the McAllen Police Department’s uniform crime report, which the department submits annually to the FBI.
According to the department, the “COVID Effect,” is reflected in the department’s calls for service, which dropped across the board with 20,356 fewer calls for service, a 13.3% decrease from 2019.
Police also responded to 3,418 fewer traffic accidents, a 31.1% decrease; to 2,610 fewer alarm calls, a 19.7% decrease; to 2,207 fewer traffic problems, a 28.1% decrease; and police conducted 12,852 fewer traffic stops, a 29.6% decrease.
The uniform crime report measures and analyzes several types of crime and in nearly all of those categories, like calls for service, incidents decreased.
In general, crime by volume, which is the collective sum of reported crime, measured through violent crime, property crime and crime total all decreased.
McAllen police say violence crime decreased by 12.1%; property crime decreased by 22.4%; and crime total decreased by 22%.
Crime rate, which factors changes in population, also looks at those three categories and the resulting percentage decreases in each category are the same as crime by volume.
As for offenses, the department recorded 821 fewer offenses in 2020 compared to 2019.
In categories with decreases, police saw 16 fewer robberies; 13 fewer aggravated assaults; 13 fewer burglaries; and 812 fewer thefts.
The decrease in thefts represents 95% of the fewer reported offenses.
McAllen police recorded six fewer pick-pocketing incidents; four fewer purse snatchings; 492 fewer shoplifting incidents; 86 fewer thefts from autos; 21 fewer thefts of auto parts; 16 fewer bicycle thefts; three fewer building thefts; nine fewer coin machine thefts; and 207 fewer thefts classified as “other.”
Police, however, did record an increase of 33 offenses in three categories: murder, rape and auto theft.
In 2019, McAllen police investigated one murder while the department responded to three homicides in two separate incidents, including the ambush killing of two of the department’s own last July.
In fact, this year police dedicated the uniform crime report to officers Edelmiro Garza, 45, and Ismael Chavez, 39, who were killed in the line of duty.
The officers were ambushed at around 3:30 p.m. on July 11 while responding to a domestic disturbance call in the 3500 block of Queta Street.
When they approached the home to investigate, 23-year-old Audon Ignacio Camarillo shot them at point blank range before turning the gun on himself.
The other homicide investigation is into the Aug. 29 killing of Ricky Dowal Etheridge, whose body was discovered after a welfare concern call on Sept. 1 in an apartment in the 1000 block of North 15th Street.
McAllen police have charged 46-year-old Edinburg resident Jose Luis Sanchez, 20-year-old Mission resident Daniel Barker and 37-year-old Pharr resident Gilbert Daniel Montalvo Garren with Etheridge’s murder.
Those men have been indicted and remain jailed.
The department is still looking for 47-year-old Rene Everett Casas, who absconded.
As for rape, the department recorded 10 more offenses, as well as recording 21 more cases of auto theft.
The McAllen Police Department says the decrease in crime is the result of community-wide efforts.
“Our community strives to prevent crime, to promote public safety and to participate in the investigation of crime when it does occur. To this end, the Department expresses sincere appreciation to all members of our community and to the McAllen City Commission for their diligence and dedication to making public safety a top priority,” Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said in a statement. “The Department expresses special thanks to the men and women of the McAllen Police Department for their hard work and successful outcomes.”
