Mary Meaux
Port Arthur News
PORT NECHES —
2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
Homicide 0 0 1 1 0
Sexual assault 2 1 1 1 5
Robbery 2 1 3 3 5
Agg. assault 28 43 27 13 26
Violent crime total 32 45 32 18 36
Burglary 81 86 104 173 212
Theft 176 227 228 163 169
M/V theft 11 14 16 10 15
Property crime total 268 327 348 346 396
Index crime total 300 372 380 364 432
SOURCE: Port Neches Police Department
A tabulation of 2012 crime in the city of Port Neches shows both property crime and violent crimes are down.
An annual report prepared by Port Neches Police Chief Paul Lemoine shows property crimes such as burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft, are down 18 percent from those reported in 2011. In 2012 there were 81 burglaries reported as compared to 86 in 2011. Theft, which includes burglary of a motor vehicle or coin-operated machine, saw 176 reported cases in 2012, down from 227 in 2011. There were 11 motor vehicle thefts reported in 2012, down slightly from 14 in the previous year.
Crimes against persons, or violent crime, includes homicide, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault. Those numbers are down as well from the previous year.
There were no homicides in the city in 2012 or 2011 and two sexual assault cases in 2012, up one from the previous year. There were two reported robberies in 2012 and one in 2011. Aggravated assault dropped from 43 in 2011 to 28 in 2012. Family violence falls into the aggravated assault category.
Lemoine tracked overall trends in the last few years and noted that the city has an overall low crime rate.
“As we begin 2013, we remain committed to providing professional police services to the citizens of Port Neches,” Lemoine said. “We pride ourselves on having one of the lowest crime rates in the area as we strive to reduce it even more.”
By using 2011 data from the State of Texas, Lemoine calculated population, total offenses and crime rate for surrounding cities and Port Neches came in near the bottom of the batch with one of the lowest rates. West Orange, with a population of 3,515, had 319 total offenses in 2011 and was at the top of the list. The 2012 figures are not available at this time.
Lemoine also noted the work the department is doing to communicate better with its citizens.
PNPD held its fifth annual National Night Out celebration in October and has expanded its Neighborhood Watch program. In December 2011, the department launched its official Port Neches Police Department Facebook page to “provide the public with valuable information and to give citizens a platform to interact with their police department,” he said in the 2012 report.
E-mail: mmeaux@panews.com
Twitter: MaryMeauxPANews
