Beaumont police released it's 2012 crime stats Thursday. There were 13 murders in Beaumont, up two from last year. All but one murder has been solved this year.
There were 54 businesses robbed in 2012, down 17 from last year. 42 percent of this year's robberies have been solved.
There were 315 businesses burglarized, up 23 from 2011. However, more of those have been solved this year. 19 have been solved up from 13 percent in 2011.
Burglaries of residences went down. There were 237 fewer burglaries this year than last.
Chief Singletary is mostly pleased with the cases solved.
On March 14th, Chief Singletary recalls the courthouse shooting. Chief Singletary says he was walking outside the sally port when he heard gunshots.
"We heard the shots and we didn't know what exactly was going on. But, I started running that way. I saw all of my officers run that way. They had no idea what was going on at the time because had no time to put radio traffic out," he says.
Chief Singletary says he's never experienced anything like the courthouse shooting.
He says while his team works to close cases and arrest those they believe are responsible, his main focus is protecting the public.
"I try to put out as much information as I can to let them know what they can do to be safer," he said.
Chief Singletary has implemented new programs this year and expanded old ones. There are youth programs such as YALE (Youth Academy for Law Enforcement), Cops-N-Kids picnic and the Santa in Blue project.
Community-wide events include: the Beaumont police department golf tournament, National law enforcement memorial week local police memorial service and Beaumont police department 5K run.
There are also citizen training programs, neighborhood associations, and a community advisory committee.
Chief Singletary hopes to see more citizens get involved in 2013.
