Crime numbers a concern, but not panic-worthy

Crime statistics for Huntington Beach released last week that show a

21.2% increase in violent crime, including a significant rise in the

number of rapes, assaults and robberies, bear serious notice but not

necessarily serious panic.

These numbers can be spun in almost any way.

Police often tell us that it may just mean more people reporting

crimes. And while that makes us feel safe, and them look good, the

numbers can still be disturbing.

Rapes rose by 22%, which sounds like an incredibly large increase,

but when you consider that it went from 36 reported rapes in 2002 to

44 in 2003 it doesn’t sound quite as bad.

Aggravated assaults, on the other hand, rose 21%, but that was an

increase of 47 reported assaults from 216 in 2002 to 263 in 2003.

The murder rate did not rise at all, but it stayed at a steady

three. That’s not much to brag about.

Huntington Beach still touts an old distinction of “safest city,”

but is it? Perhaps reasonably safe at this point, which is far better

than many places but worse than some.

These numbers come from the state attorney general and are given

out to cities of 100,000 or more people.

Before we get too worried and go on lockdown mode, we need to stop

and realize that this is not yet a trend, just a move in the wrong

direction. And if we’re concerned about it, we can be certain Police

Chief Kenneth Small and his department are twice as worried and on

top of it.

In other words: We should beware and be watchful, but not lose our

heads over this.

The good news is property crimes saw a much smaller rise overall

and even went down in some areas. Vehicle theft dropped from 475 in

2002 to 441 in 2003 and arson went from 33 in 2002 to 21 in 2003.

Let’s hope this is the direction all the numbers go when the 2004

statistics come out.