Looking for an Austin Criminal Attorney? We can help! Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. and with more people comes more crime. Police have been studying the rising crime rate to best learn how to squash it.

According to the Austin American-Statesman thousands of visitors flocked to the city for SXSW over the past week and with them came violence that left about a half-dozen people dead. Overall, violent crime rose last year by 10 percent and Austin counted more homicides than it has seen in years.

Through March 13, 2017, 187 robberies have been reported total. This included robbing four banks, 28 businesses and 155 people. In half of those instances the robbers carried a gun, the newspaper reported. The gunman fired in nine of those instances, which police said was rare in the past.

“We don’t think things are out of control by any means, but we are constantly taking note of where we are to make sure we don’t get to that out-of-control point,” Assistant Police Chief Joseph Chacon said.

Chacon pointed out that Austin is still one of the nation’s safest cities despite the growth in crime.

“We’ve seen some pretty high-profile incidents that have occurred that are very violent in nature,” Chacon said. “Obviously, we are going to put investigative resources and proactive measures in place to make sure that we are not seeing a trend.”

Last year was the first year violent crime in Austin rose in around a decade. To help combat this more police have been dispersed around where the crime rate is rising.

“These are bad folks that are out there committing these crimes, and they are a major focus for the police department now,” Chacon said.