Violent crimes increase 13% in Costa Mesa

Deepa Bharath

The city saw a rise in violent crimes, especially rape, in 2003

compared to the previous year, crime statistics released by the state

Attorney General on Tuesday showed.

The much-monitored crime category, which includes murders, rapes,

robberies and assaults, increased by 13% last year compared to 2002,

the report said.

Rapes shot up by 200% and robberies increased by 14.3%, according to the report. Assaults, however, were down 4.5%.

Property crimes were slightly higher in 2003 compared to the

previous year, up by 1.5%. In that category, auto thefts fell 4.7%.

The rape percentage seems high, but reflects only an increase by

28 incidents, Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick said.

“That’s way less than one incident a week,” he said. “That’s not

to say these incidents are not important to us. The numbers don’t

change the fact that Costa Mesa is still a safe city and a great

place to live.”

The increase is, however, “disappointing,” Costa Mesa Police Chief

John Hensley said.

“I don’t like to see any increases,” he said. “And honestly, I was

surprised to see it in our city.”

Many factors could have caused it, Hensley said.

“The economy drives it, but that’s only part of the answer,” he

said.

Hensley said he is concerned about the rise in violent crimes.

“But I don’t believe any of the increase is because our community

policing system is not working,” he said. “I believe we still need to

stay focused on quality of life issues while continuing to fight

crime.”

Hensley said he believes community education is also important in

reducing property crimes.

“We need to step up education and tell our residents things like

they have to lock their garage doors and keep their vehicles locked,”

he said. “People need to be more watchful so they can help us help

them.”

The numbers clearly show that there is “much work to be done,”

City Councilman Allan Mansoor said.

“I have confidence in the competence of our police department to

address these issues,” he said. “But these numbers are indicative of

the fact that we have our work cut out for us.”

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

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