San Marcos Chief of Police: ‘Remarkable increase’ in aggravated assault

There is good news and bad news about crime in San Marcos.

The San Marcos Police Department has reported zero murders this year, said Police Chief Stan Standridge.

“To my citizens, to the police department, I can’t praise you enough,” he said. “We’re at zero, and it is November 1. We’re going to finish this year with zero.”

Standridge shared the murder rate and other violent crime statistics with the San Marcos City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 1, as part of SMPD’s Comprehensive Update.

SMPD data shows a declining murder rate, from 10 murders in 2019 to five in 2020 and three in 2021.

The statistics may appear encouraging at first glance. Standridge stipulated in his presentation, however, that the best predictor of crime is not murder but “the rate [at which] your citizens are trying to kill another citizen. That’s typified by aggravated assault.”

According to SMPD data, 211 aggravated assaults were committed in 2022, representing a 58.1% increase from the three-year average.

“As you can see, that is a remarkable increase,” Standridge said.

Motor vehicle theft is also up 37%.

The most common targets for motor vehicle theft are pickup trucks, which are stolen along the Interstate 35 corridor and taken south “almost immediately,” Standridge said.

“How do we know that?” he asked. “Because by working with the sheriff’s office closer down to the border, we have recovered numerous stolen vehicles from San Marcos, as they tried to convey illegal immigration in these stolen vehicles.”

Rapes were also among Standridge’s principal concerns.

SMPD reported 70 rapes this year as of September, according to Standridge, who shared a grim prediction on where those numbers might end up by the end of the year.

“I predict we’re going to break 100 rapes for the first time in the history of San Marcos,” he said.

Standridge outlined several of SMPD’s strategies for reducing violent crime after acknowledging the challenges that lie ahead.

SMPD’s overall umbrella strategy is Intelligence-led Policing, which the department has been working on for “a little over a year,” he said.

Specifically, SMPD uses SmartForce, a developed intranet service which provides “accurate, timely information” on who is wanted, stolen vehicles, attempted locates, and pass-ons, Standridge explained. The service is funded by grants.

Other recovery and prevention strategies outlined in the presentation include Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety, which puts police officers on traffic hotspots where the most crashes occur.

For a comprehensive list of SMPD’s strategies for reducing violent crime, watch the full work session meeting at http://sanmarcostx.gov/421/City-Council-Videos-Archives or watch on Grande channel 16 or Spectrum channel.