WASHINGTON CO. SHERIFF’S OFFICE REPORTING UPWARD CLIMB IN MONTHLY CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

  

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is seeing a steady increase in reports of criminal activity.

During Sheriff Trey Holleway’s monthly report today (Tuesday) to county commissioners, he said the sheriff’s office handled 123 offenses for the month of May, per data recorded through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).  Of those, 21 incidents are classified as “Group A” offenses, which include assaults, sex offenses and burglaries, with the other 102 “Group B” offenses including weapon violations, trespassing, and drug or intoxication offenses.

Holleway indicated that the total of 123 crimes in May has grown each month since January, which had 59 offenses recorded.  The numbers of “Group A” and “Group B” offenses have each roughly doubled since that time.

Holleway did say these higher numbers are not unexpected, as the arrival of summer tends to bring an uptick in criminal behavior.

The sheriff’s office NIBRS report showed 98 arrests were made in the month of May, including eight for “Group A” and 90 for “Group B”. 

In other monthly updates from county offices, County Auditor Shawna Hollis said all county departments have submitted their budget requests.  She said she has heard positive feedback from them about the county’s new ClearGov budgeting software, which was purchased in August with the intent of offering more detail and ease of use for county officials while also offering more public transparency in viewing budgets online.

Also at today’s meeting, the court:

• Appointed Dyann White as the tax assessor collector chief appraiser to calculate the no-new-revenue tax rate and voter-approval rate.
• Approved renewal of a participating agency agreement between the office of emergency management and the Capital Area of Texas Regional Advisory Council (CATRAC).  The council serves as the contractual and lead agency between the regional Hospital Preparedness Program and the Texas Department of State Health Services.  Emergency Management Coordinator Bryan Ruemke said the agreement includes guidelines for maintaining equipment from CATRAC and outlines steps for how the county can obtain funding from CATRAC if the council receives it.
• Approved permit applications for the 4^th of July parades in Independence and Chappell Hill.
• Approved a subdivision variance request for a land division fronting Gerke Road and Janner-Kuecker Lane in Precinct 3, consisting of 32.17 acres.
• Approved a subdivision variance request for a land division fronting Highway 237 in Precinct 4, consisting of 82.69 acres.