Is crime rising in Fort Worth? Not according to police data
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) - For the past several days, CBS News Texas has reported on numerous stories about crime in Fort Worth.
There was a shooting call at the Raising Cane's on Berry Street on the afternoon of July 3, where officers found two victims with non-life-threatening injuries.
Then there was the mass shooting on the night of July 3 in the Como neighborhood. Three people were killed and several others were injured.
In a separate incident Monday night, a fight resulted in five people being shot.
Two days later, a police officer and arson investigator came across two armed men fighting. They intervened and ended up shooting and killing those men.
Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes appeared on last Thursday's edition of CBS News Texas This Morning to address the recent violence. He expressed his heartbreak and frustration. But he also said crime in the city has gone down:
"We've seen a decline, we've talked about that before, and we're glad to see that. But the fact of the matter is, we say that, and then in the next breath we're talking about a mass shooting. Our work is not done."
So what do crime rates look like in Fort Worth? We took a look at the police department's most recent crime report. Here were the key takeaways:
Overall, the crime rate in Fort Worth was down about 1 percent during the first three months of 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022.
The murder and manslaughter rate was down significantly, about 32 percent. There were 26 of these crimes in the first quarter of this year, down from 18 last year.
Aggravated assaults were also down during this time period: 748 compared to 767 from January through March of 2022.
But there were some increases in crimes like human trafficking and kidnapping.
Overall, crimes against persons were up 2.7 percent. We're still waiting on the numbers from the second quarter of this year to see if these trends continue.
We do know that violent crimes, including murders, shootings, robberies and aggravated assaults were down in 2022 by more than 13 percent.
You can read the Fort Worth Police Department's full crime report for the first quarter of 2023 here.