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SAPD reports year‑to‑date declines in robberies and property crime; analytics helped crack serial burglaries
Summary
Chief McManus and Assistant Chief Salome presented NIBRS-era crime data showing declines in reported incidents and faster emergency response times; analysts used trend analysis and data sources to tie a serial burglar to 24 business burglaries that led to an arrest and a seven‑year sentence.
San Antonio Police Department leaders told the Public Safety Committee that citywide reported crime is down year over year for January–November comparisons and that analytical work is driving targeted investigations.
Chief McManus said the city’s call volume has declined — emergency calls fell from roughly 1.4 million in 2023 to about 1.1 million in 2025 (Jan–Nov) — and that emergency response times have improved to 5 minutes, 29 seconds (down from 6:26 in 2023). “Emergency response times have improved every year,” he said.
Under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) reporting frame, McManus said the department’s overall index was down about 13.4% year over year, crimes against persons were down 9% and property crime saw the largest drop at 18.1% (Jan–Nov comparison). He emphasized these figures reflect reported incidents and can be adjusted as cases are reviewed.
Assistant Chief Salome gave a focused briefing on burglaries and robberies and explained the department’s investigative pipeline: call for service, preliminary scene work, case screening using solvability factors and assignment to detectives. He noted that robbery is categorized differently under NIBRS (as a property crime in that system) and underscored the heavier investigative handling of robbery cases because they involve force or threats.
Salome illustrated how analysts and technology support investigations: camera networks, license‑plate readers, online leads and pawn‑shop databases. He described an analysis that linked a serial offender to multiple business burglaries and said the combined analytical and investigative work produced an arrest that led to a seven‑year sentence: “The analysts were able to put that together for us ... we tied him to 24 business burglaries,” Salome said.
Council members pressed for metrics on case outcomes. Salome said detectives assigned to property‑crime caseloads handle roughly 12 cases a month each and that assigned cases are solved about 70% of the time (solving defined as identifying a suspect). He also said about 11% of the total property‑crime universe was assigned to detectives after solvability screening.
Other notable details: shoplifting‑related robberies represented a significant share of business robberies (Salome said more than half were shoplifting incidents that escalated), and the department described holiday and summer task forces that produce arrests, warrant clears and recovered property (the summer property‑crimes task force produced more than 200 arrests, cleared 300 warrants and recovered roughly $1.7 million in property value, the department said).
Council members asked for further follow-up on technology contracts (including the Flock camera program) and for additional context on how call‑volume declines map to operational deployments and long‑term crime prevention strategies. The committee asked SAPD to provide additional breakdowns on recovered property and on how many citations ultimately produce court outcomes.
Next steps: SAPD will provide additional requested data and the committee expects follow-ups on CCR (calls‑for‑service reclassification) pilot recommendations in February.
