West Columbia
City in Brazoria County, 3,621 people.
Police
Sheriff in its county: Brazoria County Sheriff's Office.
A department is the place's own when its name is the place's and its FBI population fits the place's people (decision city-or-town-is-its-police-department). Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29.
Where it sits
- County
- Brazoria County
- People
- 3,621
- Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024
How a case moves here
West Columbia follows Texas law on arrests, release, and courts; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.
- Who decides release first
A magistrate sets bail first, at the hearing that must follow arrest. Magistrates include judges of every level, justices of the peace, and, in some counties, appointed criminal law magistrates. In misdemeanors, a sheriff, officer, or licensed jailer may take bail, and many counties use bond schedules signed by judges.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 17.027, 17.20 to 17.22Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17- Time to see a judge
A person arrested must be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. The magistrate gives the warnings, sets bail, and can appoint a lawyer. The hearing may be held by video.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17(a)- Money bail
Texas allows money bail. Since voters approved Proposition 3 in November 2025, a judge must deny bail for murder, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, and several other felonies when the state proves flight risk or danger at a hearing, and must explain in writing any grant of bail on those charges.
Tex. Const. art. I, secs. 11 to 11dTex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 17.15
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Prop 3 (2025) changed when bail must be denied, not whether money bail exists. Appointed criminal law magistrates exist only in counties with an enabling section in Gov't Code ch. 54, such as Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis. Counts of public defender offices change often; check TIDC before quoting a number.
Crime
Offenses reported by West Columbia Police Department, West Columbia's own department. The county sheriff and state police may answer calls here too; their offenses are on their own pages.
The crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Texas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 22 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 296 | 411 |
| Murder | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 6.1 | |||||
| Rape | 8 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 53 | ||
| Robbery | 3 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 67 | ||||
| Aggravated assault | 14 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 225 | 285 |
| Property crime | 48 | 60 | 75 | 52 | 34 | 1,474 | 2,123 |
| Burglary | 3 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 181 | 303 |
| Larceny | 40 | 47 | 59 | 36 | 31 | 1,167 | 1,493 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 126 | 327 |
| Arson | 1 | 2 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 9.2 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Texas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 70 | 73 | 84 | 53 | 38 | 1,742 | 2,904 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 35 | 39 | 36 | 27 | 17 | 844 | 1,172 |
| Vandalism | 8 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 290 | 534 |
| Fraud | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 312 |
| Drug abuse violations | 20 | 16 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 351 | 602 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 109 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 1 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 17 | ||
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 64 | |
| Other Group A offenses | 1 | 1 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 48 |
Offenses West Columbia Police Department reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the department polices, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Texas's rate over the same years. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.
Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Texas: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.