Port Neches crime stats break down 2022 compared to years past, outline community’s report trend
Published 12:30 am Wednesday, April 12, 2023
- Justice of the Peace Marc DeRouen speaks with Port Neches Police Officers near a crime scene in 2022. (Mary Meaux/The News)
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PORT NECHES — With a population of more than 13,000 people, the city of Port Neches has a relatively low crime rate.
A comparison of crime data from 2022 compared to 2021 and 2020 shows the number of crimes are staying consistent with no major increases or decreases.
In 2022, Port Neches had 277 total crimes in the following categories: homicide, rape, robbery, assault (both simple and aggravated), burglary, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle theft.
In 2021 the total number of crimes was 305 and in 2020 that number was 326.
Homicide, rape, robbery, assault
Port Neches saw one homicide in 2022; zero in 2021 and one in 2022.
There were five reported rapes in 2022, compared to seven in 2021 and four in 2020.
Assault cases for 2022 came in at 146. In 2021 that number was 179. And in 2020, it was 184.
Port Neches Police Chief Cheri Griffith said assaults and domestic disturbances were higher in 2020 during the pandemic. She believes this is because people were confined to their homes or were working from home.
Burglary, theft, auto theft
Burglaries came in with 23 cases in 2022; there were 17 in 2021 and 28 in 2020.
There were 78 thefts reported in 2022 while in 2021 there were 87. In 2020 there were 95 reported cases.
Motor vehicle theft did increase over the past several years with 24 cases in 2022. There were 14 cases in 2021 and 12 in 2020.
Summary
Griffith said as far as crime trends, the numbers are staying pretty consistent.
“We deal with a lot of domestic disputes, a lot of assaults and usually property crime fluctuates,” she said. “There’s a period where we were dealing with a lot of motor vehicle thefts, vehicle burglary. It seems to be cyclical.”
PNPD has a total of 21 officers, which includes 14 patrol officers.
Griffith offered a few words of advice on the topic of vehicular burglaries — lock doors.
“I can’t remember the last incident where a window was broken (during an auto burglary),” she said. “They check door handles, and if it is open, that’s the ones they burglarize. It’s always important to lock your vehicles and don’t leave valuables inside.”
