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GROVES — Like the City Marshals before him, Groves City Marshal Norman Reynolds Jr. keeps a running tally of crime numbers dating back decades.

By doing so he’s noticed a downward trend in recent years.

“The last two years have been record-breaking for many cities across the country. I suspect that these are the lowest numbers that the Groves Police Department has seen since the 60s,” Reynolds noted in his Uniform Crime Report that was presented to City Council earlier this year.

“Some suspect this could be because there were fewer opportunities to commit property crimes last year with businesses shut down and people staying at home,” he said. “Also it could be low because of the extent to which crime was reported during the pandemic.”

Reynolds said the drop is also part of a national trend where property crimes have fallen and crimes against persons increased.

“It’s not just us,” he said. “Like I always say, we have an extremely young police department who are eager and out there working. I always give them the credit.”

Mayor Chris Borne spoke of the drop in these reported crimes, saying it’s a great thing for the city.

“It shows progress in an area that is important and affects everyone in the city,” Borne said. “It is a true testament to the hard work done by our police force and its leaders. I am extremely proud and impressed by all their hard work.”

The numbers

GPD’s report shows a total of 251 index crimes, which is a tally of the following: homicide, rape robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft and auto theft.

In 2022 Groves reported:

• Homicide — 1
• Rape — 7
• Robbery — 5
• Aggravated assault — 43
• Burglary — 44
• Theft — 130
• Auto theft — 21

In 2021, there were a total of 301 crimes while in 2020 there were a total of 415 crimes.

Crimes against people

A closer look at crimes against people, dubbed by the Texas Penal Code as “crimes against persons,” shows Groves had one homicide in 2022, zero in 2021, one in 2020 and one in 2019. The homicide rate stayed at zero from 2015 to 2018.

The number of rapes fluctuated from 2015 to 2022 with a high of 17 in 2021.

Robbery reports ranged from 13 in 2015 and 2016, to 10 in 2017, 13 in 2018, 12 in 2019, 11 in 2020 and 5 in 2021.

Aggravated assaults were at a high in 2019 with 75 reported crimes. There were 69 aggravated assaults reported in 2015, 62 in 2016, 54 in 2017, 51 in 2018, 65 in 2020 and 43 in 2021.

Property crimes

Burglaries were at a high in 2015 with 107 reported. That number dwindled through the years: 86 in 2016, 85 in 2017, 63 in 2018, 58 in 2019, 54 in 2020 and 41 in 2021.

Theft also dramatically decreased through the years going from 282 reported thefts in 2015, 281 in 2016, 268 in 2017, 2031 in 2018 and 215 in 2019. There was a slight increase in 2020 to 232 then 135 in 2021.

From 2015 to 2021, auto theft had a peak high in 2020 with 32 cases. The year 2015 showed the lowest number of auto thefts at 14.

Groves Police Department has 23 full time officers and one part-time officer.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program includes data from more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies representing cities, colleges and universities, county, state, tribal and federal entities, according to FBI.gov.