LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Lubbock Police Department is targeting juvenile crime in 2026, with Chief Seth Herman calling on the community to help prevent young offenders from accessing firearms.
Herman said juvenile offenders are becoming more violent and gang-related violence is increasing.
“Our juvenile offenders are becoming more violent. The gang-related violence is becoming more prolific,” Herman said.
Herman said the trend is happening across the country.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Tahoka or Lubbock or Dallas or Houston, you’ve got juvenile crime groups that are out not only burglarizing vehicles and stealing guns, but using those guns and violent offenses and killing people,” he said.
Herman said the trend stems from a lack of knowledge about consequences.
“Until we get ahold of that and we start teaching kids right from wrong and teaching them what the outcome could be for a misstep or for a bad decision, then we’re going to be doomed to go down this same path continually,” he said.
Herman said one of the easiest ways young offenders get guns is by stealing them from cars.
“It’s not ninjas doing it. They don’t have some kind of electronic tool that comes from a satellite that they’re able to unlock all these vehicles. They’re checking door handles. They’re walking through neighborhoods, checking door handles. And those that are open, they’re stealing guns out of them,” he said.
Herman said stolen guns are used in crimes throughout the United States and Mexico.
“They’re used in very heinous crimes. And not only here in Lubbock, the ones that are stolen here in Lubbock, but those guns wind up in murder scenes and violent criminal acts throughout the United States, Chicago, as far as Chicago, New York, and then they also end up in Mexico and are used by the cartels. So just because a gun is stolen in Lubbock doesn’t mean it stays in Lubbock,” he said.
Herman said the safest place for a gun is on a knowledgeable owner or locked in a secure container.
The announcement is part of the department’s 2025 annual report.
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