By ANALISE PICKERRELL
Four Points News
Crimes reported to the Austin Police Department in the 78730 ZIP code have fluctuated and shifted over the past decade, and some crimes are decreasing compared to spikes during the COVID pandemic.
River Place implemented a new River Place Neighborhood Watch Program this summer to keep the community safer and deter crime. In HOA discussions leading up to the Watch Program formation, there was anecdotal evidence of what seemed to be an increase in crime in the community. APD shared that sometimes social media makes it seem there is more crime that there actually is.
Four Points News submitted an open records request to find out more – including how many and what types of crimes have been reported to APD in 78730 since 2014. After investigating crime rates and speaking with an APD crime intelligence analyst, data shows overall crime rates have been steadily decreasing since the pandemic.
Data shows that crime rates noticeably increased in 2018, spiked around the pandemic and now trend downwards since the end of COVID restrictions. The cause of the initial increase lacks specificity, however, ADP representative Christian Fritz drew it mostly back to the pandemic with a few exceptions.
“Changes in routine activities are going to result in changes in crime rates…that’s exactly what COVID did,” said Fritz, crime intelligence analyst supervisor with APD.
Fritz concludes national trends play a bigger part behind the decreasing crime rate instead of any specific actions of the ADP or demographic changes. Overall, crime levels are steadily decreasing, with room for a few exceptions like narcotics use, which has increased across Austin.
The pandemic and political issues not only increased but drastically changed crime patterns around 2020, which Fritz said brought about “routine changes”. “Routine changes” refer to changes in behavioral patterns that make certain forms of crime more or less accessible.
“If I’m not going downtown and partying it up on Sixth Street, I’m less likely to get arrested for disorderly conduct…or a DUI,” Fritz said. “But if I’m at home, locked up with a relative or a roommate that I don’t get along with, I might be more likely to have, you know, a confrontation that results in a police call.”
Fritz addressed rumors about new residential developments such as apartment complexes in the 78730 ZIP code area negatively influencing crime rates.
“It would be very difficult to conclude that apartment complexes are a driving force in a crime increase, without substantial time to research and look into it,” Fritz said. “That’s a dissertation in and of itself.”
An increase in auto thefts account for the most of the changes in crime, which Fritz attributes to more vehicles being left unattended as people spent more time in their homes during pandemic restrictions. Specifically around 2022, social media publicity exposed security flaws in KIA and Hyundai vehicles that made them more susceptible to theft. However software changes and ADP-supplied anti-theft hardware have since quelled the issue.
Other forms of crime also saw increases around COVID, such as larceny, impersonation and credit card fraud. However, all of these have subsided to pre-COVID levels. Aside from a few spikes in 2014, 2018 and 2023, violent crime remained low.
Despite the shock the pandemic brought to Austin’s system as a whole, overall most crimes in 78730 are trending downwards.