Crime reports from December took a hefty drop compared to November but remained in that "middle zone" that we usually see. There were no incidents of robbery or assault reported.
 
Home burglaries dropped 40% from November but were still higher than any other month for almost two years. It's curious looking at the locations reported and noticing (1) that incidents were all across the district, and (2) that a significant portion were deep within various neighborhoods. Some burglars plan their getaway and obviously want to be able to escape to a major street fairly quickly. Those criminals must have taken the month of December off as incidents were often many blocks away from a major street and required navigating through a neighborhood maze of streets, both to locate their victims and to escape. Or the burglars were from those neighborhoods.
 
In protecting our homes, it is important to realize we are all vulnerable and that we need to remain diligent by keeping doors locked, garage doors closed, and being wary of strangers in the neighborhood.
 
If you want to review the areas that have reported incidents over the last month, download the complete report here for address-by-address information that includes your neighborhood. If you are a Garland resident reading this but do not live in District 1, you can get reports for your area here on the Police Department's website or from your Council member.
 

 
The Garland Police Dept has made it even easier to see where and what type of crimes have occurred: information can now be accessed through www.CrimeReports.com. If the data doesn't seem to appear, "zoom in" further. Not all types of incidents reported are shown on the maps.