Crime drops in Seguin; police hope to continue good trend

SEGUIN, Texas – Crime in Seguin has dropped, according to numbers recently released by the Seguin Police Department, and police hope to keep it that way. 

“We look at our Uniform Crime Report crime stats that are reported to the FBI twice a year to see if there is a trend going on,” Deputy Police Chief Bruce Ure said.

Ure said, so far this year, the Police Department has had consistent good news.

“We learned that the rate has dropped significantly, where, if we keep the trend up, at the end of the year, in comparison to the last 10 years, we would have dropped 48 percent,” he said.

In the Part 1 category of crime -- which includes rape, murder, burglaries and other major offenses -- the department found that the city's rate is down 20.9 percent. It’s a successful number that Ure said didn’t happen by accident.

“Since the new police chief has come in with a new vision and new policies, we have had proactive policing, problem-oriented policing and community policing,” Ure said. “Put that in effect with social media, where we push all of the crime out there for the community to jump on board with helping.”

Ure said the community is the best partner the Police Department could ask for.

"I have 30,000 people in Seguin,” Ure said. “That is 60,000 eyes, so if I push information out to them, I just multiply my chances at catching somebody."

Other engagements police have with the community include the Citizens Police Academy, the Explorers Program, the Citizens Alumni Association and just simply spending time with residents.

“We literally just gave 125 brand-new bikes to children in the community who probably couldn’t afford them, so having that interaction is important, especially with our youth,” Ure said.

He said other cities have asked the Police Department for advice.

“We tell them, 'Just take baby steps,'” Ure said. “We are not afraid to say, 'We shouldn't have done that. Let's try something else' If you are not successful in one, time to move on and try something else.”

Ure also said being transparent is important.

“We believe that, if we have crime or criminal activity going on, we are not going to hide it -- quite the opposite. We are going to tell our community about it, because they are going to help us fix it," Ure said.

He said, though the department is in a good position, it still has work to do.

“More cops do not fix a thing. You have got to use the right strategies, so we think we have found that happy medium where we are good.”


About the Author:

Japhanie Gray joined 10 News as an anchor in March 2022.