Violent crime goes up, property crime down

Deepa Bharath

The city saw an increase in violent crimes but a decrease in property

crimes during the first nine months of 2003 compared with the same

time in 2002, a report released by the state attorney general’s

office on Wednesday showed.

Overall, crime was up by 1.4%, the report said. Violent crimes, a

category that includes murders, rapes, robberies and assaults,

increased by 10.4%, and property crimes -- burglaries and auto thefts

-- dropped by 1.6%.

The attorney general’s report released in October, comparing the

first six months of 2003 and 2002, had actually shown a 6.1% decrease

in overall crime, a 10.8% dip in violent crimes and a 6.4% drop in

property crimes.

*--*

Crime 2002 2003 % change

Murder 2 1 -50

Forcible rape 11 28 154 Robbery 81 87 7.4 Assault 108 107 -0.9

Burglary 373 372 -0.3

Auto theft 317 307 -3.2

Total 2,868 2,907 1.1

*--*

It is still premature to tell how the year 2003 ended for Costa

Mesa crime-wise, said Capt. Tom Warnack, who oversees the police

department’s Field Operations Division.

“Numbers do fluctuate all the time,” he said. “They go up and down

from month to month.”

It’s hard to explain an increase in crime over three months,

Warnack said.

“We usually look at these numbers over a year to get a clear

picture,” he said.

Although forcible rapes showed a 154% increase, officials say

those numbers are misleading because the actual number of incidents

increased from 11 to 28.

“And even those are only the raw numbers,” Warnack said. “As

patrol officers, we take reports of rape, but it is the detective

division which determines which ones are [legitimate claims].”

The report does not request that final number that would give the

public a more realistic picture. That is true of all incidents, he

said.

There were six more robberies between January and September 2003

compared with the same time in 2002. That added up to a 7.4% increase

in that category.

“We don’t like to see any increases,” Warnack said. “But an

overall increase of 1.4%? That’s low relative to the overall crime

picture.”

Warnack said he is happy to see a dip in property crime.

“We’ve seen increases in that category in the past,” he said. “But

we’ve been involved in preventive patrol as far as auto thefts and

vehicle burglaries and we’re pleased to see the results.”

The report releases the numbers each year for cities with a

population of more than 100,000, which left Newport Beach out of the

picture.

Statewide, violent crime dropped 2.2%, murders decreased by 7%,

and property crimes went up by 4.7%. Overall, crime increased by

2.3%, the report showed.

Jeff Wilcox, president of the Mesa del Mar Homeowners Assn., said

he feels safe in the city as well as in his neighborhood.

He is concerned about recent shootings in the city, especially the

one on Coolidge Avenue that left two people wounded the night before

Thanksgiving Day.

“But it’s not as if I’m panicking,” he said. “We live in a society

with violent tendencies. It’s the reality.”

He supports Chief John Hensley’s new community policing program,

Wilcox said.

“It’s important for us to know who is patrolling our streets so we

can do our part and be the eyes and ears of the police department,”

Wilcox said. “We need to work together.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.