The Woodlands Township will add nine new law enforcement personnel to District 6, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office district that covers The Woodlands, in 2015 in an effort to thwart nearby crime and account for population growth.

"The increase in law enforcement is a combination of those two things: growth and crime," said Randy McDaniel, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office chief deputy. "With the influx of additional people into the county, the increased economic trends and the prosperity, there are [individuals who] prey on that."

Township President Don Norrell said the township board of directors added additional law enforcement in the fiscal year 2015 budget because of the uptick in crime activity along I-45.

"Public safety is the top priority of The Woodlands Township," Norrell said. "We know growth continues to come to Montgomery County, and our board of directors and staff are committed to be proactive in taking care of the public safety needs of our community."

The Woodlands is adequately covered by existing law enforcement patrol services, McDaniel said. But there is a potential increase in gang activity in Montgomery County due to the proximity to I-45. McDaniel said gang members are identified by tattoos and because they confess to their affiliations out of pride.

"It just appears to be that [the gangs] are becoming more active," McDaniel said. "In [general], crime in The Woodlands has been fairly flat, consistently the same. And that is partly because of the increase in law enforcement presence that The Woodlands provides."

Township Director of Law Enforcement Marian Leck said the 2015 increase in personnel is not indicative of a trend in future increases of new police hires.

"Nothing is typical with law enforcement," Leck said. "There was an increase due to commercial growth."

She said growth like the activity generated by the new ExxonMobil campus and other new commercial buildings in The Woodlands creates the need for an increase in law enforcement.

Phone records obtained from the township show that fraud calls increased in June 2014 compared to June 2013. Yet call titles for deadly conduct, burglary of vehicle and narcotics offenses have trended downward compared to the same month in 2013. Calls for alarms and disturbance noise have gone up, but assault and prowler calls have decreased.

"Crime has been down and has been down in the last five years," Leck said. "And it consistently goes down."

Law enforcement is paid from a general fund that includes the fire department, parks and recreation, community services and community relations. The general fund is 66 percent of the overall 2015 Woodlands Township budget. The general fund services, which include law enforcement, are paid through sales-and-use tax, hotel room tax and property tax revenue.

"We're very fortunate that sales tax subsidizes expenditures," said Ted Stanley, president of the College Park Village Association. "We've come a long way [since the days] prior to the township."

Stanley said population growth in The Woodlands resulted in an increased need for more law enforcement.

"We've grown from a community of 45,000 to a community of over 100,000," Stanley said. "When you increase the population, everything increases."