Vehicle-related offenses accounted for nearly half of the city’s major property crimes in 2025
Shoplifting may be the most visible form of theft, but it represented only a small portion of Seagoville’s property crime in 2025.
The Seagoville Police Department reported 305 offenses in the four major property-crime categories tracked by the Texas Department of Public Safety: larceny and theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson.
Nearly 46% of those offenses were connected to vehicles. Police reported 57 thefts from motor vehicles, 16 thefts of vehicle parts or accessories and 66 motor vehicle thefts. Combined, those categories produced 139 reported offenses.
Shoplifting accounted for 18.
The figures show that Seagoville residents were more likely to report property stolen from a vehicle, a vehicle part taken or an entire vehicle stolen than a shoplifting offense at a local business.
Seagoville property crime by category
| Offense | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All larceny and theft | 158 | 182 | Up 15% |
| Motor vehicle theft | 93 | 66 | Down 29% |
| Burglary or breaking and entering | 62 | 56 | Down 10% |
| Arson | 1 | 1 | No change |
| Major property-crime total | 314 | 305 | Down 3% |
The overall total declined by nine offenses, but that small decrease does not tell the entire story. The type of property being targeted changed considerably.
Motor vehicle theft fell sharply, while thefts from inside vehicles and thefts of vehicle parts increased.
Theft from vehicles rose sharply
Police reported 57 thefts from motor vehicles in 2025, up from 34 in 2024. That was an increase of 23 offenses, or nearly 68%.
Theft of vehicle parts or accessories also increased, rising from 10 offenses to 16, a 60% increase.
Those two categories include property taken from a vehicle and parts removed from it. The data do not identify the specific items stolen, locations of the offenses or whether vehicles were locked.
Residents commonly describe theft from a vehicle as a vehicle burglary. Texas law, however, defines burglary of a vehicle according to whether someone entered or broke into a vehicle without the owner’s consent and with the intent to commit a felony or theft. The federal reporting category “theft from motor vehicle” describes the property offense and should not be interpreted as the specific criminal charge filed in every case.
Auto theft declined but remained a major problem
Seagoville recorded 66 motor vehicle theft offenses in 2025, including 65 completed thefts and one attempted theft.
That was down from 93 in 2024, a decrease of 27 offenses or 29%.
The decline was significant, but auto theft remained the second-largest individual property-crime category. Only “all other larceny,” a broad category covering thefts that do not fit into more specific classifications, produced more offenses.
When auto theft, theft from vehicles and theft of vehicle parts are combined, Seagoville recorded 139 vehicle-related property offenses in 2025—two more than the 137 reported in those categories during 2024.
The vehicle-related total was nearly unchanged. What changed was the method: fewer vehicles were stolen outright, while more property was taken from vehicles or removed from them.
Shoplifting fell by more than half
Shoplifting declined from 43 reported offenses in 2024 to 18 in 2025, a decrease of 58%.
Shoplifting represented about 10% of Seagoville’s 182 larceny and theft offenses. It accounted for less than 6% of the city’s 305 major property crimes.
The comparison is striking: Seagoville reported more than seven vehicle-related property offenses for every shoplifting offense.
The numbers also illustrate why theft statistics should not be interpreted simply as retail crime. The state’s larceny category covers several different ways property can be taken.
What made up Seagoville’s theft total?
| Larceny and theft category | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All other larceny | 64 | 88 | Up 38% |
| Theft from motor vehicle | 34 | 57 | Up 68% |
| Shoplifting | 43 | 18 | Down 58% |
| Theft of vehicle parts or accessories | 10 | 16 | Up 60% |
| Theft from building | 6 | 3 | Down 50% |
| Pocket-picking | 1 | 0 | Down 100% |
| Total larceny and theft | 158 | 182 | Up 15% |
“All other larceny” was the largest theft classification, rising from 64 offenses to 88. It is a catchall category for thefts that do not meet the more specific definitions for shoplifting, theft from a building, theft from a vehicle or theft of vehicle parts.
Because the report does not provide the circumstances behind those 88 offenses, it would be inaccurate to describe them as one particular type of theft.
Overall larceny and theft increased by 24 offenses despite the large reduction in shoplifting. Growth in thefts from vehicles, vehicle-parts theft and other larceny more than offset the retail decline.
That differed from the statewide trend. Across Texas, larceny and theft offenses fell approximately 9% from 2024 to 2025.
Burglaries declined modestly
Seagoville reported 56 burglaries or breaking-and-entering offenses in 2025, compared with 62 in 2024.
Of the 2025 total, 54 were reported as completed offenses and two as attempts.
In federal crime reporting, burglary or breaking and entering generally refers to unlawfully entering a building or structure with the intent to commit theft or another felony. It is separate from theft from a motor vehicle.
Seagoville’s approximately 10% burglary decline was close to the statewide direction. Texas reported a roughly 13% reduction in burglary and breaking-and-entering offenses during 2025.
The wider property-crime picture
The four traditional major property-crime categories do not include every offense classified by the National Incident-Based Reporting System as a crime against property.
Using the wider definition, Seagoville police reported 403 crimes against property during 2025. In addition to the 305 major property offenses, that figure included:
- 76 destruction, damage or vandalism offenses
- Six robberies
- Six false-pretense, swindle or confidence-game offenses
- Six credit-card or ATM fraud offenses
- Three counterfeiting or forgery offenses
- One impersonation offense
Robbery is included in the wider NIBRS property classification because obtaining property is the objective, although it is treated as a violent crime in traditional crime-index reporting because force or the threat of force is involved.
The broader 403-offense total should therefore not be compared directly with the 305-offense major property-crime total without understanding the different definitions.
What the numbers mean for residents
The 2025 data contain both encouraging and concerning developments.
Motor vehicle theft, burglary and shoplifting all declined. At the same time, theft from vehicles, theft of vehicle parts and other larceny increased enough to push the overall theft total higher.
The central finding is that property crime in Seagoville cannot be reduced to shoplifting. Vehicles remained one of the community’s most consistent property-crime targets, whether thieves took the vehicle itself, property left inside or parts attached to it.
The figures are reported offenses—not arrests, convictions or the number of individual offenders. Because one incident can contain more than one offense, offense totals also should not automatically be interpreted as separate criminal events.
Texas’ crime database is a live reporting system, meaning local agencies may update offenses as investigations develop or data corrections are made. The figures represent the complete 2024 and 2025 calendar years as recorded in the state system when the report was generated.
