Violent crime up by 10%

Huntington Beach’s violent crime rate rose more than 10% last year while property crimes dropped by 6%, according to a preliminary report from the state Department of Justice.

The violent crime statistics were based on the number of homicides, forcible rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults reported. A jump in reports of aggravated assaults was responsible for the local rise. Reports of all other violent crimes decreased.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Craig Junginger said the increase was a result of the department correcting its reporting method.

“Before, we were reporting an individual assault that may have had two or three people in it [as one assault],” he explained, whereas now a separate crime is established for each victim involved.

The state findings do account for changes or errors in local law enforcement agencies’ reporting procedures, but there is no information listed about the Huntington Beach Police Department.

Robin Schwank, spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said the Huntington Beach Police Department did not inform the office of changes to its aggravated assault reporting.

“Normally what would happen is if there was a sizable increase ? more than 10%, I think ? it gets flagged in our system and we send out a letter to the law enforcement agency asking for an explanation in the difference in numbers,” Schwank said. “That may be something in progress.”

Violent crime in Huntington Beach rose 10.7% from 2004 to 2005, but Schwank said the report is preliminary and subject to change. The final report will be available in August.

Reports of local property crime ? burglary, car theft and larceny over $400 ? decreased 6.1% overall despite a 2.5% rise in vehicle thefts.

“We’d like to think it’s because we’re more proactive, but I don’t know if you can quantitatively say it’s because of our actions,” Junginger said. “We’re doing good police work, and maybe we’re getting lucky and catching a lot of the criminals.”

The report shows an increase of over 3% in violent crimes statewide and a 2% increase in property crimes.

“I am convinced that criminal street gangs and the prevalence of methamphetamine are two of the primary factors behind this recent uptick in crime,” California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said in a news release. “In order to further improve public safety, we need to continue to focus our attention and resources on the root causes of our crime problem.”

This preliminary report represents crimes reported by 81 law enforcement agencies in areas with populations of more than 100,000. The report compares the number of reports from January through December 2004 to the same period of 2005.

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HUNTINGTON BEACH CRIME STATISTICS