BASTROP, TX–Bastrop Police Chief David Board today released a report suggesting the rate of major crimes in the city declined sharply last year from 2007. Major crimes include murder, rape, aggrivated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson.
Bastrop remains a small town, roughly 8,000 people, and the number of major crimes for last year reached 412, down 28 percent from 2007. The bulk of the total was in the larceny category (447 in 2007, 333 in 2008), a 26 percent decrease.
Year to year, burglaries were also off 40 percent, rape down 50 percent (six in 2007, three in 2008), and auto theft, off 32 percent (19 in 2007 vs. 13 in 2008). Board also noted that a spike in robberies (chiefly convenience store heists) in 2007 fell by half in 2008. Local police were faced with 14 such incidents in 2007, seven in the past year.