Crime down, violence on rise

Jenny Marder

While crime in Huntington Beach went down overall this year, violent

crimes were up 10% and robbery was up 25%, according to a report

released by the state attorney general last week.

With 2,051 crimes between January and June of this year compared

to 2,196 in 2002, crime dropped by 6.6%. The number of violent

crimes, however -- rape, robbery and assault -- went from 155 in 2002

to 172 in 2003. Property crimes -- burglaries and auto theft -- rose

2% in the first half of 2003. The sharpest increase was in robberies,

which rose 25%, from 39 recorded last year to 52 this year.

Huntington Beach Police Capt. Dan Johnson said that the numbers

were not significant and are likely to vary from year to year.

“I don’t think it’s any pattern,” Johnson said. “If it happens two

or three years in a row, then it would be something we would

seriously look at ... . This is just an increase over a six-month

period.”

Aggravated assault and burglaries each showed an 8% increase.

The most dramatic drop was in arson, which went from 18 reported

in 2002, to five reported in 2003, marking a 72% decline. The number

of larceny incidents went down by 12%. And although property crimes

and violent crime went up overall, car theft went down by 11% and

rape was down by 10%.

There were no homicides the first half of this year, compared to

two in 2002.

Separating trends from anomalies is important when looking at

statistics, City Councilman Dave Sullivan said.

“You’ve got to look at a long-term trend before you get bent out

of shape,” Sullivan said, adding that it’s useful to take economic

conditions into account.

“What usually happens is when people are getting laid off and the

economy is bad, more people get more brazen in their crimes,” he

said.

Statistics indicate that neighboring Costa Mesa experienced a

similar decline in overall crime. Crime in Costa Mesa was down by

6.1%, with a 10.8% decrease in violent crimes and a 6.4% drop in

property crimes. In Santa Ana, overall crime went up 4.9%, with

violent crime down 5.9% and property crime up 10.6%.

The Police Department uses the report, Johnson said, “to see if

there’s anything we can identify to help us do a better job.”

Police will not be doing anything different as a result of this

report, he added.

“The message here would be that overall, crime in Huntington Beach

is still extremely low,” Johnson said.

Huntington Beach often tops the list of safest cities in Orange

County.

“It’s always been one of the safest and sometimes the safest city

in cities of over 100,000 [residents],” Sullivan said. “It’s a

selling point and a source of pride in the community.”

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.