While New Mexico as a state has the second highest violent crime rate in the country (just behind Alaska), Lovington consistently has a crime rate that’s among the lowest in the state and well below the national average, according to multiple reports.
As a state, New Mexico has a crime problem. Safewise reports that violent crime in New Mexico in 2022 happened at a rate of 7.8 per 1,000 people, or almost double the national average at 4.0. Property crime in the state is similarly high, coming in at 28.4 per 1,000 people compared to 19.6 as a national average.
Criminal activity in the state is not widespread, however, and it tends to be clustered in specific areas. Among the most dangerous cities in the state are Gallup (with a violent crime rate of 19.92 per 1,000 people), Belen (with 52.43 property crimes per 1,000 people), and Los Lunas, where the city’s rapid growth is thought to be fueling its rapidly rising crime rate.
The effect of living around crime is significant on residents, with only 31 percent of New Mexico residents reporting that they feel safe in their homes (compared to 50 percent for the national average).
Lovington offers a safer community
Located just under five hours away from Los Lunas, Lovington offers a more law-abiding lifestyle. The safety of the quiet, spread out city has been part of its appeal for years, with the city’s own website touting its “low crime” as a prime attraction.
But what constitutes “low crime”? Cities in New Mexico do not consistently report their crime data to the FBI (only six of them having done so in 2021, for example), making accurate numbers difficult to come by. Several different reports highlight the city’s low crime rate, however.
NewHomeSource puts Lovington’s violent crime rate at 1.34 per 1,000 people and the property crime rate at 11.9 . TravelSafe-Abroad notes that Lovington recorded only about a quarter of the national average for violent crimes. And BestPlaces.net puts Lovington at 14.9 per 100,000 people for violent crimes and 27.1 for property crimes, compared to 22.7 and 35.4 for the national average, respectively. While the figures vary depending on the source of the data, each offers a snapshot of comparison consistently showing that Lovington has less crime than the state and the country on average.
Using a longer lens, archived FBI data from 2005-2018 shows that Lovington’s crime rate is not only low compared to the state and the country, it trended significantly lower during that time period – helpful chart.
When considering a grade for the city, Crimegrade.org gave Lovington an “A” for violent crimes, an “A-“ for property crimes, and a “B+” for “other” crimes. Of the violent crimes in the city, the most common is assault; for property crimes, burglary and theft are the top categories; and for “other” crimes, drugs and vandalism are the most common.
Within the city limits, Crime Grade ranks the Northwest part of the city as safest, and the Southeastern part as the most dangerous, based on where crimes occur (click here to see their interactive map).
The Lovington Police Department was unable to provide more recent statistics.
Hobbs PD focuses on transparency
In nearby Hobbs, the city is facing a slightly different situation than Lovington. Residents have been expressing their concerns about elevated crime levels on social media, in part due to an increased number of reports from the department and in some cases what residents have been seeing firsthand.
Addressing this, Hobbs Police Chief A. Fons released a statement in July explaining that when he shifted the department to focus on transparency two and a half years ago, it meant that more frequent crime reports were going out to the community. “The consequence, for some citizens, has been an appearance of increased severity of crime in our community,” Chief Fons said.
In reality, while crime has risen by 9% in Hobbs since 2021, it’s gone down from 2022-2023. Levels of both violent crime (rape, robbery, assault and battery, domestic violence, shooting at/from a motor vehicle or dwelling) and property crime (larceny, shoplifting, auto theft, fraud, embezzlement, receiving stolen property, vandalism) in Hobbs are down from 2022, representing all major categories.
Not all crimes have decreased: murder is at the same level in 2023 as it was in 2022, while weapon offenses, DWI, and burglaries have increased. On that note, however, Fons asserts that a few individuals were “responsible for a significant number of the documented burglaries” and have since been arrested, and “the number of burglaries has exponentially decreased.”
In summary, Hobbs is not experiencing an unprecedented crime wave. “Crime is not rampant in our community,” Chief Fons said. “The dedicated men and women of HPD, along with the committed assistance of the Lea County Sheriff’s Department, the Lea County Drug Task Force, New Mexico State Police and the 5th Judicial District Attorneys office are working tirelessly to ensure the safety and welfare of everyone who lives in our community.”
Recognizing that more transparency can lead to new challenges if it is unbalanced, Fons expressed that, moving forward, the department is reassessing its communication strategy to include some of the positive news from the department as well.
