HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Data shows crime is down ever so slightly across Houston over the last few years, but in Meyerland crime is up sharply.
Crime reports analyzed by ABC13’s partners at the Houston Chronicle show crime up nearly 20% in Meyerland since 2022. Purse-snatchings were up an average of 22% year-to-year from 2019 to 2024.
It’s being noticed by lifelong residents like Arthur Pronin.
“I myself was robbed two years ago at the Kohl’s department store at the Meyerland shopping center so there is definitely an uptick,” Pronin said.
On Monday, Houston police released surveillance footage of a man snatching a woman’s purse at Meyerland Plaza on Aug. 23.
The victim, who asked Eyewitness News not to share her identity, said she was walking out of Ross to a waiting car just before 10 p.m.
When she reached her car and set down her Louis Vuitton bag on the floorboard, she said the purse thief surprised her from behind.
“I feel just a push, someone pushed me over in the car,” the victim said.
Surveillance video shows the thief emerging from the passenger’s seat of a parked car right before the robbery.
Many say a lot of Meyerland’s crime stems from one apartment complex: the Life at Jackson Square apartments on North Braeswood near Chimney Rock.
“We find that most of the problem seems to come from there,” Harold Eaton, president of the Meyerland Super Neighborhood, said.
In April, the city filed a lawsuit against the owners of the complex branding it a nuisance.
The suit points to two murders and multiple robberies at the complex in 2024.
In response, the complex’s owners said the city’s claims were without merit.
“They either need to invest a lot of money into fixing it up, to making it decent, or shut it down and turn it into something else,” Eaton said.
In the meantime, homeowners and businesses are investing their own money to keep the crime at bay.
“Just yesterday, I was at Meyerland Plaza and there was a definite increase in patrols. They were going parking spot to parking spot checking every car,” Pronin said.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the Aug. 23 purse snatcher.
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