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Houston Chief of Police Troy Finner said on Wednesday violent crime in the city decreased by 12% compared to the same time last year, Houston-based media outlets reported.
Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that the Houston Police Department (HPD) preliminarily tallied 111 homicides during the first four months of this year, a decline by 42 from the 153 recorded last year.
"The numbers speak for themselves and we continue to see them trending down," the Bayou City’s top law enforcement official said, KHOU reported.
Finner attributed the drop to Mayor Sylvester Turner’s “One Safe Houston” initiative, stating the program afforded his department more officers and tools.
While the chief is pleased that “overall crime is down,” KHOU reported, he admitted HPD’s work continues.
Per a report from Houston NPR affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM), authorities said aside from the 27% slide in murders, robberies slid 10%, aggravated assaults lowered by 12% and sexual assaults by 6%.
"I do think it’s very important for people to continue to hear where we are, whether or not crime is going up, whether or not crime is going down," Turner, who’s in the final months of his term, said, HPM reported. "Over the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of talk about crime everywhere, not just in the city, but across the country, and I think it’s important to keep providing people with the information good, bad or indifferent."
Each city council district experienced a drop in crime, per HPM.
Earlier this year, Finner declared that the Bayou City saw a decrease in violent crime in 2022 whereas there was a spike in property crimes, Houston Daily reported.
According to the publication, the city had sought to hire more officers last year, with the mayor and city leaders announcing a new $10,000 hiring incentive for cadets.
The first cadet graduation class of this year were the initial recipients of the incentive.