Is Rundberg Safe?

Rundberg has a reputation.

A quick Google search of ‘Rundberg Austin’ will bring up pages of local news stories about assaults and homicides. Message boards ask questions like ‘will this area ever improve?’ The Austin Police Department’s crime statistics show an area still struggling with violent crime. But at a local taco stand at the corner of Rundberg Lane and Lamar Boulevard, Officer Ruben Espinoza offers a more nuanced look at the community.

“There's a few individuals that make it dangerous. And these little spots that are dangerous,” Espinoza says. “But the majority of the Rundberg area is safe.”

Crime and safety in Rundberg is a complex matter, one that has dogged city leadership, police and community leaders for years. But what is the root of the issue, and what do the residents living in this community need?

An aerial view of Rundberg Lane and Lamar Boulevard. The Austin Police Department lists this area as a local hotspot for crime.

The Components

When officials or residents say ‘the Rundberg area,’ what do they mean?

The neighborhood is loosely defined as Braker Lane to the north, U.S. 183 the south, Metric Boulevard to the west and Dessau Road to the east. Rundberg Lane itself runs through the heart of the neighborhood, one of the few footpaths across I-35 that connects the community. But for the Austin Police Department, it’s part of a much larger sector.

“Edward Sector is pretty large,” says Lieutenant Daryl Bone, the APD operations lieutenant for Northeast Area Command. “It's roughly the same size as Round Rock when it comes to population size. It's also pretty similar to the population of Round Rock as well.”

APD used to organize crime data by sectors, but now information is broken down by council district. Rundberg is within District 4. By either measure, Lt. Bone says crime rates in the area are higher than other Austin neighborhoods.

“When we look at the data last year, 2024, when you take into account all nine regions or all nine sectors within the city, Edward was number one. Unfortunately, with homicides, unfortunately, with a lot of violent crimes,” Lt. Bone says.

According to the Austin Police Department’s data portal, last year District 4 accounted for 23% of all homicides in Austin, and 22% of aggravated assaults. Those numbers are pretty consistent over the past couple of years. In 2023 District 4 accounted for 18% of all homicides in Austin, and in 2022 it made up 21% of all homicides. In both 2023 and 2022, District 4 accounted for 22% of all aggravated assaults in Austin.

But experts say these percentages add up to totals that are relatively small. Dr. Jamein P. Cunningham is an assistant professor of law and public policy at the University of Texas at Austin. He says compared to cities with similar population sizes, Austin has relatively low crime rates.

“The main number that people look at are things such as homicides,” says Cunningham. “Homicides are going to be much lower than other cities of similar size [and] as it relates to property crimes, things like car theft, those things may be on the rise, but still relatively less than other cities.”

Austin has a population of roughly 986,000. Last year in Austin there were a total of 72 homicides, meaning the homicide rate per 100,000 people for Austin was 7.25 for 2024 (Homicide rates are measured per 100,000 people so that bigger and smaller cities can be compared accurately). Austin’s rate is a fraction of other cities’ rates. According to FBI data, Birmingham, Ala., Jackson, Miss., and Oakland Ca had homicide rates of 58.8, 77.8 and 18.6 in 2024.

But crime is still a problem residents like Abel Lopez have to live with.

The Community

Lopez grew up in Rundberg, in the Brownie community. He remembers having a hard time sleeping when he was a kid.

I would hear gunshots every day,” Lopez says. From the age of like 8 to 12, all I saw was gangs, drugs and violence. Obviously that's where the issues come, where we're like, this is normal to us.”

Abel Lopez grew up in Rundberg, and said while there are lots of good memories, crime was also prevalent.

So why is crime prevalent in this part of town? Dr. Cunningham says there are several predictors of places that can explain why areas have higher or lower rates of crime.

“We know that places that are more segregated along racial and income lines will also have higher levels of crime,” says Cunningham. “We know that if there's a population with less educational attainment or have less access to jobs [will have] higher rates of crime. … This basically has to do with access to opportunity, access to stable employment, access to quality education.”

Rundberg sits within Austin’s eastern crescent, an area where predominantly Black and Latino communities were pushed following the city’s 1928 master plan. It's an area that still struggles with higher levels of poverty. Recent census data shows that the median family income in Rundberg is roughly $50,000 per year. That’s well below the Austin average of about $91,000 per year.

The area is also more affordable than other parts of town, making it the best option for many people who are less likely to call the police.

“Immigrant groups are less likely to contact the police,” says Cunningham. “Younger people are less likely to report, and minoritized communities are less likely to report.”

Rundberg is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Austin. About half the residents speak languages other than English at home, according to U.S. Census data. It’s about 30% for all of Austin. Residents hail from all over, but a lot come from Spanish-speaking communities. And while immigrants are about 40% to 60% less likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens, they’re also less likely to contact the police in an emergency.

Lopez says many Latino residents are afraid if they call for help, they’ll be the ones taken to jail.

“It's like, oh, ‘we don't call the cops because immigration’,” says Lopez. “When there's an area that has a high violence rate or a high crime rate, nobody's calling because they're afraid that they're going to be like, oh, who are you?”

Espinoza says it’s a challenge he’s encountered as a police officer.

“They're scared and they're scared of being deported,” Espinoza says.

That concern has only increased lately. In recent months, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement deportations have become much more visible. Several have taken place in Rundberg, including one during a traffic stop by Dobie Middle School. And President Trump has called for ICE to increase detention and deportation efforts, especially in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.

“I tell them right off the bat that APD, we don't ask for immigration status here in Austin,” says Espinoza. “It's our policy. We want our victims to feel safe and come out and talk to us.”

Officer Ruben Espinoza uses his computer in his squad car.

Police Chief Lisa Davis stated earlier this year that APD is not coordinating with ICE. But, other Texas law enforcement agencies are. Earlier this year Governor Abbott ordered the Department of Public Safety to assist ICE with finding and arresting immigrants with arrest warrants.

Immigrants with no criminal background are also being arrested. A report by ProPublica and the Texas Tribune showed that the Trump administration knew the majority of 238 Venezuelan immigrants hadn’t been convicted of any crimes. They were arrested and deported anyway.

And during the last legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that requires sheriffs to partner with ICE. And different police departments can have different relationships with ICE. It can be confusing to know who has what power, so many residents feel safer not risking a 9-1-1 call.

It all creates an area where residents more likely to be victims of crime, but who are less likely to call the police.

How do you make that area safer?

Construction, Not Handcuffs

Lopez says until about a year ago, the Brownie neighborhood had several dumpsters up and down the street by the apartment complexes for residents to use. But he noticed other people using them as well.

“I'm talking about people that didn't even live in that neighborhood would come and dump old bed frames, beat up couches, mattresses,” Lopez says. “You drive up and down and all you see is all these piles of trash.”

To Lopez, it said something about how other Austinites saw his neighborhood. And he says it impacted how residents felt about their community.

“It makes you feel some type of way” Lopez says. “The city is fixing the streets and we're sitting there like, when is it going to be us? When are we going to get these nice things?”

Espinoza wants to see the area improved as well, not just to bolster community pride, but to improve safety. He refers to it as crime prevention through environmental design. It’s a method of crime prevention that uses environmental features–think removing shrubs, proper lighting, more sidewalks–to reduce crime. It’s a method APD has already put in practice, by working with Austin Energy to replace halogen lights at Northgate Boulevard with brighter LED lights.

“So when you look down the street from 183 to Northgate, you can actually see everything,” Espinoza says. “So you feel safe. That's a huge thing.”

Construction crews build a new sidewalk on Rundberg Lane. The City of Austin has been working to add more sidewalks in high-need areas like Rundberg.

Lighting isn’t the only improvement the city is looking to make in Rundberg. Austin has been working to add more sidewalks as part of the city’s Strategic Mobility Plan. Their goal is to finish missing sections in high priority areas, like Rundberg, by 2033. APD is also testing something called the Crime Free Multi-Housing program. Police work with apartment complexes to fix environmental hazards like lighting. Complexes can also get connected with resources like APD’s family violence or victim services unit. Espinoza says it's about combining data with community outreach.

“Instead of being reactive, we can be proactive and work with all these community members,” Espinoza says. “The community definitely wants to see the change. They want a better quality of life.”

Environmental design is one way to reduce crime. Community groups, like the ones Lopez works for, are another. Lopez works with two organizations: Jail 2 Jobs, which tries to help formerly incarcerated people find work and housing to prevent recidivism, and ATX Peace, which works with individuals at high risk of committing gun violence or becoming victims of gun violence. In each program, the goal is to make sure individuals don’t make a life-altering decision out of desperation.

“We had individuals say, man, like, I was about to rob that store because I'm starving,” Lopez says. “Time literally is all it is, buying time.”

And groups like this can be highly effective. One study found that in cities with a population over 100,000 people, each community group contributed to a 1.2 percent drop in the homicide rate and a one percent drop in violent crime.

The problem is money.

Faltering Funding

Restoration projects have been launched in Rundberg before, and did find measurable success for a stretch of time. In 2015, a pilot program called Restore Rundberg was launched. It was funded by an Obama-era Department of Justice grant, and it increased foot patrols in the area and kickstarted new community groups like the Rundberg Alliance. Reports on the program by the University of Texas found that violent crime in Rundberg dropped by 5% and property crime fell by 14%. But in 2017 the funding ran out, and the program stopped. Crime levels then returned to their pre-2015 levels.

Now federal cuts from the Trump administration are slashing into funding for programs like ATX Peace and Jail 2 Jobs. Lopez says the funding cuts have forced them to let go of two staff members, and they’ve had to reduce their client service budget 50% to 75%. So while the need remains, the assistance they can offer is shrinking.

“The hard thing is when we see all these, some funding coming in, then it’s gone, then a grant comes in, then it’s gone,” Lopez says. “It’s just more distrust, more distrust.”

Lopez would like to see a steadier funding model for these programs, one that would allow groups to be more consistent with the work they do in the community.

“That's where the community starts feeling more safe,” Lopez says. “And appreciated, like, okay, they see us.”

A family enjoys the annual Unity Walk & Kids Fest.

Is Rundberg Safe?

The answer on whether or not Rundberg is safe is complicated. Trying to fix that problem is possibly even more complicated.

“This is what public officials have to deal with,” says Dr. Cunningham. “Can we provide public safety but also deal with the root cause? …I haven’t come across a city that’s just overflowing with funds where they can increase the police and they can provide supports.”

The City of Austin has been struggling with a massive budget deficit. The Austin City Council recently voted 10-1 to approve a new budget that attempts to address the $33.4 million shortfall. Voters will decide on the property tax rate in the fall.

But despite the reputation and the data, it’s also someone’s home. Lopez says the neighborhood is full of families and kids playing together. But like when he was a kid, sometimes he still hears gun shots at night.

“I have a five year old daughter,” Lopez says. “Sometimes…it's like, when is it going to stop, man?”

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