2009 Austin Murders total

[KevinFromTexas]

As some of you may know, I keep track of Austin's murder count, both for the City itself and for the county and metro numbers. The numbers come from news reports from the Austin American-Statesman and local tv stations. The population numbers come from the US Census Bureau.

Here are the stats for 2009.

So Austin had a total of 23 murders for 2009. That's about average really. It's the same number as last year, but 7 fewer than 2007, and 3 more than 2006.

Austin did not have a single murder in February, March, June or November - 4 months without a single murder. A total of 120 days. There were no murders in February or March, meaning there wasn't a single murder in Austin for 59 straight days.

The most violent month was a tie between July and August with 5 murders each.

There were 0 murders on Fridays and only 1 murder on a Monday. The most violent day was Sunday, with 7 murders happening on Sundays.

There were 0 murders in Central Austin, Central East Austin, Northwest Austin or West Austin.

There were 23 murders inside the city. 7 murders happening outside of the city, but still inside of the county. And 48 murders happened in the metro, of which 23 were inside the city. So more murders were happening in the suburbs and rural areas than there were happening inside the city. 25 vs 23.

[verybadgnome]

Good stats. Any idea of how Austin stacks up against other similarly-sized cities? Texas cities?

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Good stats. Any idea of how Austin stacks up against other similarly-sized cities? Texas cities?

Lower than every other Texas city.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Lower than every other Texas city.

Really? Do you have some statistics to back that claim up?

From TXDPS 2008 statistics http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/adminis...statistics.htm

Austin; Murders = 23, Rate Per 100,000 = 3.1
Dallas; Murders = 170, Rate Per 100,000 = 13.3
El Paso; Murders = 17, Rate Per 100,000 = 2.8
Fort Worth; Murders = 49, Rate Per 100,000 = 7
Houston; Murders = 294, Rate Per 100,000 = 13.1
San Antonio; Murders = 116, Rate Per 100,000 = 8.6

Austin wasn't the lowest, El Paso was for a city with over 500,000 souls.

[Nickelplate]

I'm sure that El Paso stat is skewed due to the number of illegals living there.

[nixcity]

^Each of those listed cities has huge numbers of illegals living in them. If anything skews the data for El Paso it would be because the majority of the murders are on the Juarez side of the border and who knows how many unfound bodies have been buried around there.

[KevinFromTexas]

This is an index of city murder stats compiled by AveryStreet who posts on the forum. This came from the "City Murder Rates" thread in 'City Discussions' This is only for the cities that are kept track of in that thread.

In many cases, Austin's murder rate is a fraction of that of cities that are 2 to 3 times our size.

[arbeiter]

Only one murder west of Mopac!

Based on the murders' distribution, I would say that South Austin is clearly higher crime overall, at least in the inner and south central portions. There were 9 south of the river and 14 north of the river, and north of the river covers a lot more geography and people.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by arbeiter

Only one murder west of Mopac!

Based on the murders' distribution, I would say that South Austin is clearly higher crime overall, at least in the inner and south central portions. There were 9 south of the river and 14 north of the river, and north of the river covers a lot more geography and people.

It is true that 2009 was more violent in South Austin, but that wasn't true last year when there were 6 murders south of the river and 18 in North Austin. And Austin had the same number of murders in 2008 and 2009.

Also, most of the crimes this year were happening along Riverside Drive or in very far South Austin in almost rural areas. 2008 only saw a 1 murder south of Ben White. I hadn't added that one yet before I made this chart. In that case the guy admitted to it being murder.

Here are the numbers for 2008.

[Nickelplate]

St. Louis and NJ are warzones behind Juarez of course!!

[priller]

Funny how they all seem to be close to I-35.

[arbeiter]

There seem to be a lot of murders near Decker Lake, too, relative to that area's population.

[hookem]

Geez, that one murder west of Mopac was a big one. All over the news. It was that guy who was shot at the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse, right?

It does seem odd that so many are clustered around I-35. But there is also a significant cluster in the well-known high crime zone in the north part of the city (N of 183, south of Walnut Creek Park, Georgian neighborhood I think). Weird how that area has gotten so bad.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by priller

Funny how they all seem to be close to I-35.

That's usually the case in most cities. San Antonio is the same way. I keep track of their numbers too. Most of the crimes there happen near I-35, I-10 and Loop 410. I don't know what it is about highways. My guess would be the general lack of heavy pedestrian activity, which means fewer or no witnesses to crimes. They always say to walk in well lit areas, know your surroundings and try to stay in areas with large crowds. Most areas within a mile or 2 of major highways aren't known for pedestrian activity, so that could be why. It would also explain why there are few if any murders in downtown or Central Austin. The same is true in San Antonio, even though they have a higher murder rate than we do, downtown is generally safe. There were two murders in downtown San Antonio in 2009. The victims were both homeless and the crimes happened in the early morning hours, say 2 to 5 am. So I think pedestrian activity plays a large part in the safety of cities. It makes sense when you think about it.

[arbeiter]

What is clear from both 2008 and 2009's geographic distribution is that East Austin is much safer than its reputation, even if its reputation has improved amongst many people. 4 murders in an area from Cesar Chavez to 290 E, and IH-35 to Ed Bluestein is pretty good considering the population size and the demographics.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah. Riverside though has been increasing in crime over the years. And of course then there's the Rundberg area which is arguably the worst spot in the city.

[arbeiter]

Originally Posted by hookem

Geez, that one murder west of Mopac was a big one. All over the news. It was that guy who was shot at the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse, right?

It does seem odd that so many are clustered around I-35. But there is also a significant cluster in the well-known high crime zone in the north part of the city (N of 183, south of Walnut Creek Park, Georgian neighborhood I think). Weird how that area has gotten so bad.

That looks like it was in 2008. The one murder in 2009 west of Mopac is the murder behind the Randall's on Wm. Cannon, if I recall.

[KevinFromTexas]

^I don't remember all the details of that case, but she wasn't murdered behind the Randalls. It is where her body was dumped though. My sister used to work at that store. There's a wooded area behind the shopping center.

[arbeiter]

Do you think the little placeholder represents that specific murder, or another one?

[KevinFromTexas]

Well, I added the placeholder, and it was meant to reference that murder, so yes, it's for that specific murder. Honestly, sometimes they find bodies and it's not clear right away where they were killed.

Also, the placeholders I add are intentionally not placed at the actual address of where someone was murdered. Obviously for privacy reasons. Most newspaper articles only use block numbers anyway, so I follow that. And even if they do give an exact address, I try to use a block address so it's not pinpointing a residence or something. The placeholders are always near the location though.