AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Police Department released its monthly crime report detailing crime across the entire city and specific sectors of the city. Pickpocketing is noticeably higher across Austin at 65% compared to last year.
Downtown saw the highest increase in pickpocketing, with a 175% jump. In 2021, there were 16 reported incidents downtown and that number rose to 44 in 2022 – a difference of 28 reported incidents.
The same data shows that pickpocketing citywide skyrocketed 269% when comparing February 2021 to February 2022.
Southeast Austin, around State Highway 71 and south of the Colorado River, has also seen pickpocketing skyrocket with a 200% increase from 2021 to 2022. According to the data, incidents there increased from three to nine. That's a difference of six reported incidents.
Although there has been an increase in pickpocketing citywide and in specific parts of the city, other parts have seen a decrease overall. The decrease in pickpocketing year over year has been seen in North Austin while reported incidents have remained consistent in northeast Austin and toward the south of the city.
Here's how the city is broken into nine different sectors:
Take a look at the pickpocketing rates broken down by sector reported in the February 2022 data:
- Adam: Down 20% year over year
- Baker: Up 100% year over year
- Charlie: No increase or decrease year over year
- David: No increase or decrease year over year
- Edward: Down 29% year over year
- Frank: No increase or decrease year over year
- George: Up 175% year over year
- Henry: Up 200% year over year
- Ida: Down 29% year over year
Take a look at the full report here.
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