Longview crime stats trending down

LONGVIEW – Our news partners at KETK report that the Longview Police Department says 2023 is on track to have one of their lowest incidents of crime since the 1990’s, as they are still vetting the numbers. KETK spoke with the department to break down these numbers in this KETK investigation. “We’re just not a violent city. We’re not that. If we ever were, we’re not that anymore,” said Captain Darin Lair.

As someone who has been with Longview PD for 33 years, Lair has seen all sorts of crime in the city, but he said many people exaggerate how bad it is.

“We get a bad rap,” he said. “The general public, they’ll tell you that crime is out of control.”

Because of this, he made an appearance on Longview PD’s new podcast, “Longview PD on Air,” to clear some things up, revealing some shocking statistics in the process.

“We are on track to be one of the lowest crime years we’ve had basically in modern Longview,” Lair explained.

This amazed their Multimedia Development Specialist, Mikaila Vaughn.

“You just assume we live in a crazy world where crime is the craziest it’s ever been. So, to hear the actual crime is just shocking a little bit,” said Vaughn.

Lair spoke about the crime index in the city, which is made up of the following categories:

Murder
Rape
Assault
Robbery
Burglary
Larceny (Theft)

In 1991, he says Gregg County’s largest city reported 8,943 of these crimes, but in 2022 that number was 2,712.

Why is it, then, that the perception for so many people is that crime has gone up?

According to Lair, it is social media.

“If someone sees something, they’re taking a picture. They’re posting it. The bad stories seem to get the clicks and get the likes,” he explained.

As far as why the numbers have gone down, Lair did not really have an answer, but he said, “The police have an effect on crime stats. They do. There are a lot of things that affect crime stats. So, I can’t take credit for all of it.”

Because of this, he hopes his department’s strategy can continue the decrease in crime in the coming years, but most of all, he wants people to view Longview as a safe place to live.

“I just wish the world would realize it’s not as crazy out there as they think it is,” he said.