Houston METRO transit crime down year over year - but trending up in the past 5 months
Man stabs man to death on Metro rail
A manhunt is currently underway after a fatal stabbing incident on the Metro Rail over the weekend. While Houston Police investigate the homicide, Metro Police stress that isolated incidents like these should not define the overall safety of the public transit system.
HOUSTON - Millions of Houstonians and visitors use Houston METRO buses and rails every year.
"As a visitor from somewhere else, I didn't hesitate," said Cary.
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Visitors and daily riders alike say they generally feel safe.
"Most of the time, transit security is present," said Yaya who rides daily.
But, crime does happen, like on Sunday when a man was stabbed to death on the METRORail. That killer is still on the loose.
"My primary concern is the perception that the system is not safe," said Metro Police Chief Vera Bumpers.
She says she doesn't want the transit system's reputation tarnished by isolated incidents.
"In 2022, Houston had over 1,700 aggravated assaults, and we had 70," she said.
So, crimes that happen within the transit system make up a small percent of crime overall in Houston. But, crimes still happen.
"We have had some incidents, and we do make arrests, and we do remove people, criminal trespass people," she said.
METRO PD tracks crime in a fiscal year that runs from October to September. Their data shows that from October 2022 to September 2023, they recorded 460 ‘major’ crimes. That's a significant drop from the 607 they saw from 2021 to 2022.
But, their monthly reports show that "serious" crimes have been higher for the last five months of 2023, than the last five months of 2022.
In the monthly report, these crimes are marked as "Class A" crimes, described as "Data [that] consists of 24 offense categories which address 52 specific crimes. Group A offenses are more serious in nature and tend to be against persons or property."
June, July, August, September and October 2023 saw higher reports of "Class A" crimes than they did in 2022.
October is the last recorded month of these statistics, information for November and December has not yet been published.
Chief Bumpers says the 185 officers they employ work hard to patrol their 1,300 square miles of jurisdiction.
"We work very hard to ensure the safety of employees, patrons, and the community surrounding our system."
She says there are also cameras on all of their rail platforms, buses, and rail cars. But, it helps when the public uses their own technology.
She encourages riders to download the "MPD Connect" app on their smartphone. On the app, you can live chat with dispatch and report incidents in real time.