Police launch plan to increase presence in ‘hot spots’
San Antonio police quietly launched the first phase of a plan to reduce violent crime this month, increasing police presence in high-crime neighborhoods.
“The ‘hot spot’ areas are data-driven and, as such, subject to change as the data changes,” said San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Washington Moscoso. SAPD declined to provide the hot spot locations, citing “operational safety.”
City Council will be presented with a timeline of the threeyear plan Wednesday, as well as learn how SAPD will evaluate the results in coordination with University of Texas at San Antonio researchers. The initial hot spot policing phase began Jan. 1, according to Moscoso.
The plan’s launch comes as the city has experienced a rise in crime.
San Antonio saw a 10.4 percent increase in overall crime from 2021 to 2022, according to a presentation by Police Chief William Mcmanus earlier this month.
The FBI counts homicide, robbery, aggravated assault and rape as violent crimes.
San Antonio recorded 231 homicides in 2022 — 70 more than the year prior; those include the 53 migrants who died in a June tractor-trailer smuggling attempt. Excluding these deaths, the 17 additional homicides represent a 10.6 percent increase from 2021.
Assault and forcible sex offenses rose by 2.7 percent and 2 percent, respectively, according to SAPD data. Robbery fell by 3 percent.
San Antonio is not the first city UTSA has worked with to tackle rising crime: In 2021, criminology researchers created a similar violent crime reduction plan for Dallas.
From 2020 to 2021, Dallas saw a 14.5 percent drop in violent crime, including a 12 percent decline in homicides. Dallas again saw a decrease in crime in 2022.
The initial phase will last a
year, Mcmanus told City Council’s Public Safety Committee.
Subsequent phases of the violent crime reduction plan will include “problem-oriented place-based policing” and “focused deterrence.”
Problem-oriented policing entails identifying and addressing crime-causing problems, such as improved street lighting. Focused deterrence aims to change the behavior of habitual offenders by providing access to social services and using arrests when other strategies are unsuccessful.
UTSA and SAPD will evaluate the plan every 60 days, Mcmanus said.
The city contracted UTSA for $110,000.
District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, who sits on the Public Safety Committee, said Monday she hopes the plan will include strategies tailored for each of the 10 council districts.
“What I would like to come out of that plan is some very innovative, some very district-specific solutions,” Viagran said. “I’m not sure if that’s going to happen, but as a preview, you can know that’s what I’m going to ask for.”