Gains made in 2018 could improve the picture of Fitzgerald’s tenure. The Fort Worth department has released quarterly figures that show rates of some serious crimes — including rape and aggravated assaults — were lower from January to September 2018 than they were for the same period in 2015. But the homicide rate was up slightly and robberies had climbed 6 percent. Overall, crime was down 14 percent for the first nine months of 2018, compared with the same period three years earlier.