Crimes against persons and property are down this year in San Antonio, according to newly released statistics from the San Antonio Police Department.
Police Chief William McManus presented the data for the first quarter of 2025 to the five-member Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
Property crimes are down 24.5%, motor vehicle thefts are down 43.2% and burglaries are down 2.2%.
Violent crime is down by 12.8%, with “double-digit reductions” in reported cases of assault, homicide, human trafficking, kidnapping and sex offenses.
Overall, there was a 19.3% decrease in all crime offenses compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Despite the numbers, the committee told McManus that not all residents of the city feel like there’s been a reduction in crime. They urged the chief to target property crime as much as violent crime.
“People will say they just don’t see it, [either] because their car got broken into or [something else],” said District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda, who chairs the committee and is running for mayor. “We all react to what we see in front of us.”
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte said he heard similar concerns from his constituents.
“If you look at January to March of this year, [there are] about 77 crimes a day against people and 233 crimes against our citizens’ property per day. That’s what we’ve been experiencing so far in 2025,” he said.
Whyte said the presentation to the committee last month on hotspot policing strategies focused on violent crime showed that having more police on the streets reduces crime.
He proposed funding for an additional 100 police officers and 100 more next year to “speed up” the city’s plan to add 65 police officers in each of the next three years.
Council members agreed that as much effort and intention should be put into addressing property crimes in San Antonio. They disagreed, however, on whether adding more police on the streets was the best way to do that.
District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez said the data is important to make decisions, but the hotspot strategy isn’t working because of more police officers on the street.
“When you more strategically invest your resources, including police officers, into the areas they’re most needed, that’s when you see the benefit,” he said, adding that there is no data that shows increasing officers decreases crime.
McManus said adding more police would help move some police into investigative roles to help target property crime.
“When the criminal justice system is working in sync, I think crime tends to trend down,” he said.
