Austin crime rates on the rise

            City officials and Austin Police have teamed up for a program to combat vehicle theft in the city.

            Police reports show thousands of cars are stolen in Austin each year. The city of Austin is combating this with a special task force designed to educate the public about what they can do to protect their vehicles.

According to Austin officials cars 

parked on the side of the road on 

Riverside are highly targeted by thieves.

            The Automobile Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority (ABTPA) met Wednesday to address burglary of motor vehicles in the Austin area. The ABTPA oversees the impact of auto theft in Texas and provides financial support to fight it. 

            In the agency meeting, ABTPA Director Charles Caldwell provided statistics and projected an interactive crime map, which indicated an increase in crime rates in Austin. Among reported incidents assault, burglary and robbery are on the rise. According to the map, crime rates have spiked in Downtown, Riverside and West Campus.

            One plan of action the agency has implemented to decrease crime, particularly in the Riverside area, is the use of bait cars. According to police reports, bait cars are vehicles fitted with high-tech video and audio recording devices that are put in areas where theft is rampant. As soon as a thief breaks in and starts the ignition, the engine is disabled and the doors are locked. A silent alarm notifies nearby police who, using the built-in GPS system, then take action.

            Austin Police Department’s bait car program and the auto theft unit is under high scrutiny from the media and the public. However, Bait Car Program research shows the modified vehicles designed to trap car thieves have reduced vehicle theft by more than 50 percent.

            “New electronic signs up around the city warn criminals that a bait car may be in the area to deter thieves,” Caldwell said.

            Toryn Johnson, University Villages Property and Leasing Manager, welcomes the new measures to combat crime that have been put in place in the Riverside area.

            “I think this will help keep our students safe and make them feel more at ease about where they are living,” Johnson said.

Signs have been posted throughout apartment 

complexes on Riverside to warn residents of 

burglaries in the area.

            Austin police have also installed signs throughout apartment complexes in the Riverside area warning residents to lock their cars, take their valuables and not leave anything in sight in your car.

            Not all Riverside residents are at ease with the new measures put in place.

            “I still do not feel safe knowing that crime is on the rise here,” said Jaila Allen, a University Villages resident. “Seeing the warning signs about theft is only making me feel more uncomfortable.”

            David McDonald, a University Estates resident living in the Riverside area, said he pays attention to crime in his neighborhood. “How the police and city officials handle the crime in this area will determine where I choose to live this coming school year,” said McDonald.

            As a part of the program, Caldwell hopes the signs will make thieves think twice about targeting cars where the signs are located.

            The signs have been up just a few weeks, but some have asked if the signs simply push criminals toward their neighborhood.

Segregation in Texas Schools

With a board vote last month, Austin school officials will designate three single sex schools for the 2014-15 academic year.

In a 5-3 vote, Austin Independent School District approved to turn Pearce

and Garcia middle schools into single-sex schools. AISD officials said students who do not wish to attend these schools may choose to enroll in Dobie, Martin, Lamar or Webb middle schools. Approval was also implemented for an all-boys school at the Alternative Learning Center, to serve as a partner school for the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.

Implementing single-sex schools has triggered a debate that raises political, civil rights and socioeconomic concerns. According to a study by Columbia University, some schools, mostly in the south, are “resegregating,” either by gender or by race. In Austin, the debate over segregation stems from gender divided schools.

The issue makes Ja’Michael Darnell, a student volunteer at AISD’s Houston Elementary, wonder why boys and girls should be taught separately and what proves this helps them succeed in the classroom.

“I don't think people should force kids to go to coed or single sex school,“ Darnell said. “I think kids should just choose on their own.”

The National Association for Single-Sex Public Education lists single-sex education long term in many private schools and estimates that approximately 400 public schools now offer some form of single-sex education. NASSPE research suggests driving forces in the single-sex education movement are the differences in how males and females learn.

Acknowledging this fact, Martin Smith, UT education curriculum and instruction graduate student has his own opinion on the issue of single-sex education.

 “What if an administration thoughtlessly excluded a course because it is believed more popular with the other gender,” Smith said. “You might unintentionally reinforce gender stereotypes by offering only the expected preferences that comes with single-sex education.”

            Kinnisha Joseph, an AISD Hillcrest Elementary teacher, favors the idea of single-sex schools.

“Single-sex public schools will improve the educational experiences of low-income and minority students,” Joseph said, “especially girls from these areas who are likely to miss out on programs that can help them develop.”

Since their approval by the U.S. Department of Education in 2006, support for single-gender schools has been mixed.

According to a survey conducted by AISD among households within the attendance zone of the approved single-sex schools, less than half of the families of students favor establishing single-sex middle schools. Families with students in upper elementary and middle school grades were somewhat less likely than those with students at lower grades to support a single‐gender middle school. When broken down by ethnicity and socioeconomic status, less than half of Hispanic, white and African-American families of students in AISD’s urban area support a single-sex school in their neighborhood.