AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – Across the nation, many cities saw an increase in crime and homicides in 2020.

According to Sgt. Carla Burr with the Amarillo Police Department Crime Prevention Unit, the cities collective crime rate saw a decrease in 2020 from 2019.

Stolen vehicles and aggravated assaults did see an increase this past year.

Sgt. Burr said that many of the stolen vehicles could have been prevented as they were left running or the keys were left inside.

Sgt. Burr added that the city’s homicide rate typically averages in the mid-teens, and sometimes can drop to below ten a year.

“We are fortunate to have a very low homicide rate and our homicide unit has a high clearance rate on those homicides. They work hard and go in there and they do a very good job and they even revisit the very few cold cases we have, they go back and visit those often,” said Sgt. Burr.

Sgt. Burr said there is no way to predict how many homicides are going to occur in a year as Amarillo does not follow a certain trend.

Sgt. Burr attributes the low crime rates with the community and police being proactive in preventing crimes from happening.

You can find Amarillo’s crime rates here.