BRADY, Texas — Noticeably spiked criminal activity in the City of Brady has led to officials hosting a town hall to communicate with concerned residents.
“It’s a dangerous situation right now, I believe,” former Randy Young said. “And I am so afraid that someone will be out looking under somebody's car to try to find their lost cat and someone will shoot or do someone or else, thinking they are part of the crime ring there.”
Young, a former county judge, is referring to the thinning patience of Brady residents. There has been a spike in burglaries and thefts, confirmed by officials, leaving some in the community on edge.
Young said he has experienced stolen and damaged property himself. Several of his properties in the town have been ransacked and had valuables stolen. What was particularly heartbreaking to him and his family was the theft of a restored 1947 James motorcycle, which had been purchased new by his father, and was restored for the man’s 80th birthday.
Young’s father died in November and he said stealing that bike was like stealing a piece of his father the family was holding on to.
“We have old pictures of Dad on the bike and cars and antiques and things like that have been such a big part of our family, so it was just devastating. They stole a lot of other things in there that had a lot of value and they were antiques and they were irreplaceable, but none to the extent of that motorcycle. It was our touchstone with Dad and we were so sad to have it gone away,” he said.
Young continues to look for the motorcycle and so is an entire community of people online. Young posted to a community page that quickly had more than 1,000 shares. Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward for information leading to the retrieval of the missing bike.
Michael Jordan has similar experiences, during Winter Storm Uri he said the barn used as the practice range and storage for the McCulloch County 4-H Rifle Club was broken into multiple times and more than $8,000 worth of equipment was stolen, making it difficult for the children to practice.
Jordan is the club manager and said much of the equipment is special ordered and hard to come by during a pandemic. He said parents and participants are upset someone stole from children’s programming. Jordan also said people don’t feel heard by law enforcement.
“I believe they aren’t being heard like they need to be heard. I’ve had people tell me they have reported drug dealing and things like that to the police department and the police department told them, they couldn’t do anything about it and people are pretty upset about it. They are tired of it,” Jordan said.
Brady Police Chief Steve Thomas confirmed there has been a spike in thefts and burglaries in the city from January and into the first week of March. FOX West Texas requested police records from the Brady Police Department for more context, but has not received them.
Thomas said many people are putting information on social media and not reporting it to the police and these tips could be vital to putting criminals in jail.
“Crimes aren’t normally committed in front of a big white vehicle that says police officer, you know we’re relying on information from the public. We rely on organizations like crime stoppers get us information and tips sometimes and then you find that a majority of the crimes being committed are because something is not being locked or secured, vehicles are left on unlocked. These are items that are coming from their front yards and open garages of people’s properties,” Thomas said. “We have one or two officers on the street at any given time, so we have to rely on the public to be our eyes and ears sometimes to bring cases to their proper disposition and to get them to be part of the solution,” he said.
Thomas said this is the reason the City of Brady is hosting a town hall meeting where the BPD, McCulloch County Sheriff’s Office and McCulloch County Crime Stoppers will be able to speak to the public about crime in the community and listen to residents’ concerns.
“I want to hear what the citizens have to say and you know we in law enforcement like to work hand in hand with the citizens in our community,” McCulloch County Sheriff Matt Andrews said.
Andrews said he heard concerns from some there that people were being arrested and then let go, but Andrews said that is simply not the case.
“A lot of the cases, we’ve got people in jail on the charges. So, we have quite a few people in our jail right now that stems from these incidents that have been happening,” Andrews said.
McCulloch County Crime Stoppers Chairman Erin Sosa said when asked to participate in the town hall, members of the organization were eager to do so. She said Crime Stoppers wants to inform the public about its services to better help the community with neighborhood watch programs and gathering tips for these crimes.
“I am hoping that the community is able to get insight into exactly how crimes are handled, as far as being reported and the outcomes, as well as understand our program and what McCulloch County Crime Stoppers does and just really raise community awareness and safety and give and type of tips and advice that would make the community feel more comfortable,” Sosa said.
The town hall will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 11 at the Ed Davenport Civic Center and is open to the public.