El Paso Police Department says crime has gone down by 3%
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso Police Department (EPPD) says crime in El Paso has gone down by 3% compared to this time last year.
El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said in a presentation given during a City Council meeting that crime has gone down on all categories, including murder, robberies, and assaults.
Sergeant Javier Sambrano with EPPD told ABC-7 that the relationship the police have with the community has been an important factor in decreasing crimes as people report anything suspicious they may see.
Sambrano says that many of the crimes EPPD has seen have been crimes of opportunity. This often happens when people break into a vehicle to steal property after this was left open or unlocked, or items of value were left visible to the eye.
City representative Henry Rivera said he had placed this discussion and presentation by EPPD on crime rate following the arrest of a Tren de Aragua gang member by the El Paso Border Patrol sector.
On Monday, September 24, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owen said in a post that a Tren de Aragua gang member had been arrested in El Paso.
Something representative Rivera and El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said actually happened in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. A location that is part of the El Paso Border Patrol sector.
“I decided to place this item on the agenda because talk across town is that crime is running rampant in our community," said Rivera.
Rivera said the post by Chief Owen should have emphasized this took place in the Border Patrol El Paso sector and not El Paso. Rivera also said that he believed this was a great opportunity for EPPD to "refute claims" that crimes have gone up in El Paso.
Chief Pacillas said EPPD can not say that there are confirmed members of Tren de Aragua because they have to follow a code of criminal procedures.
“The El Paso Police Department hasn't identified people under the state criteria, the law, to put them into TXGANG as confirmed gang members,” said Pacillas.
However, Pacillas did say Tren de Aragua is in El Paso just like they are in other major cities.
Chief Pacillas said EPPD and their "Gang Task Force" are working with local, state, and federal agencies to put pressure on gangs in El Paso, including Tren de Aragua.
