County Judge Curtis Parrish told LubbockLights.com, \u201cWe hear these very worst-case scenario stories of children. And I think this shows that the city and the county are taking this very, very serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crimes against children trend in Lubbock<\/p>\n
Child victims age 10 or under, year reported:<\/p>\n
2021 \u2013 324
2022 \u2013 360
2023 \u2013 366
2024 \u2013 389
2025 \u2013 405<\/p>\n
![\"Child](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/child_crime_lubbock_trend_5_years_1920x1080_v02.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\t\tClick the image to enlarge. <\/p>\n
Click here to see<\/a> the source material from the Lubbock Police Department. <\/p>\n The five-year trend for crimes against children is up \u2013 an increase of 25 percent from 2021 through 2025, according to the Lubbock Police Department. The first five months of this year were down compared to last year.<\/p>\n LPD provided numbers for child victims under the age of 10 based on the year the crime was reported, not committed. However, the unit will investigate crimes where the victim is up to age 17, including:<\/p>\n Physical and sexual abuse of children.<\/p>\n Child deaths if the cause is unknown (There\u2019s a provision for the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit to take the lead in homicide and suspicious death cases).<\/p>\n Missing, endangered or abducted children (The LCACU will determine if the Amber Alert criteria have been met).<\/p>\n Crimes of special circumstances, meaning complex or sensitive crimes where specialized skills are necessary.<\/p>\n Patterned after previous success<\/p>\n The city and county \u201cmutual aid\u201d agreement creates the new unit as a joint task force with power to investigate cases throughout Lubbock County, patterned after both the Metropolitan Unit and the Texas Anti-Gang Unit (TAG).<\/p>\n Braden said, \u201cWhen they started the Metro Major Crimes Unit probably five or six years ago, they saw that they had success with that with clearance rates and the ability to coordinate all the resources within Lubbock County.\u201d<\/p>\n The clearance or success rate of homicide investigations was 100 percent in 2024, according to LPD spokesperson Kasie Davis.<\/p>\n \u201cThat in and of itself, 100 percent clearance of murder, that\u2019s unheard of,\u201d Davis told LubbockLights.com.<\/p>\n The goal is to replicate those results in the Crimes Against Children Unit. And the goal is not far away. Last year, even before the new unit, LPD solved 99 percent of crimes against children under the age of 10.<\/p>\n When asked how the idea came about, Davis said, \u201cThis was a conversation between Sheriff Kelly Rowe, District Attorney Sunshine Stanek and Chief of Police Seth Herman.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Parrish and Braden said the cost is negligible \u2013 already built into the city and county budgets. The county will furnish space at 916 Main Street, computers, furnishings and one deputy. Braden said LPD will furnish five officers.<\/p>\n Special expertise<\/p>\n It takes a special skill to interview potential suspects in child abuse cases, Braden said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou kind of go at that interview a little bit different. You use a lot more empathy and different things like that because people don\u2019t want to talk about the worst thing that they\u2019ve ever done in their lives,\u201d Braden said.<\/p>\n The unit will start off with professional relationship already in place \u2013 sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) at local hospitals, investigators at Children\u2019s Protective Services, Child Advocacy Center of the South Plains and Voice of Hope (advocates for victims of sexual abuse).<\/p>\n The unit will have its own polygrapher and the deputy in the unit is an FBI task force officer. He\u2019ll be able to do forensic retrieval of smart phone data without going to a special lab.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery two weeks, all of us different agencies come together and we go over the cases,\u201d Braden said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can make sure that we are doing everything that we can for that child,\u201d Braden said \u2013 which means medical care, counseling and prosecuting the perpetrator.<\/p>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/facebook_yellow_350x350.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/volunteer_activism_96dp_000000_FILL0_wght400_GRAD0_opsz48.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n