Violent crime in Las Cruces up by 22%, driven by assaults & robberies

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- At a City Council meeting Monday, the Las Cruces Police Department released its 2021 third quarter crime statistics, which revealed a 22% increase in violent crime since this same time last year.

LCPD Chief Miguel Dominguez said during the meeting that part of the increase was driven by a spike in aggravated assaults, which were up 21%. He said another significant uptick involved robberies, which were up by 61%.

“Here today we are at 22% increase in violent crime. The last time we reported on violent crime in May it was a lot higher (at a 55% spike). So we are, hopefully, trending down and hopefully the trend continues,” said Dominguez.

Still, he projects that these crime statistics will surpass last year's numbers by the end of the fourth quarter.

When asked what was behind the increased crime, Dominguez indicated it was a mix of factors.

“There are some larger organizations to include cartels that do operate in the area and are constantly trying to get business for their organizations, but most of the crime that we’re seeing has to do with street level crime,” Dominguez explained.

Along with the increased crime rate, Dominguez said his department is experiencing a shortage in officers.

"Right now, we are largely reactionary. We’re doing some proactive things through community outreach, but we’ve been stymied because of our staffing levels,” Dominguez added.

He said LCPD is down about 30 officers due to the pandemic, but he is hopeful that after the next police academy in January 2022 that the department will be back to normal staffing.

“My expectation is when we get fully staffed, we will be a more proactive department,” Dominguez concluded.