Major Crime Rises Slightly in Glendale; Northeast Rate Dips

Major crimes reported in Glendale during 1985 increased slightly over 1984, the first time in five years that the overall annual crime rate has gone up, police said.

Meanwhile, preliminary figures indicate that overall crimes dipped 7% in the Northeast Los Angeles communities of Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Glassell Park, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division reported.

In eight categories of reported crimes used as a benchmark by cities to measure the overall crime rate, Glendale had 7,555 incidents last year, contrasted with 7,468 reports in 1984. That constituted an increase of 1.2%.

The largest increase was in burglaries from locked cars, which account for about 40% of the thefts in the city, Glendale police crime analyst Jack Altounian said. The number of burglaries from locked cars jumped from 1,279 to 1,488, an increase of 16%.

‘Fastest-Growing Crime’

“It’s the fastest-growing crime in Glendale,” Altounian said. “In the last seven years, the average annual increase in those crimes has been 29%.”

Overall, theft in Glendale last year increased 2.8% over 1984, from 3,975 to 4,088 incidents in 1985.

Burglaries declined by 9% overall, from 2,103 reported in 1984 to 1,916 last year. Of those, residential burglaries dropped 21.5%, which Altounian said was the result of increased participation in Neighborhood Watch crime prevention programs.

Glendale business burglaries rose by 9.8%, from 846 reported in 1984 to 929 last year.

Reported arsons were up 78.6% last year over 1984, a jump investigators attribute to the work of an arsonist, still at large, who started garage and trash-can fires during the summer. There were 150 reports of arson last year, contrasted with 84 in 1984.

The number of forcible rapes dropped nearly 50%, from 32 in 1984 to 17 in 1985. Murders in Glendale remained at four during both 1984 and 1985. Aggravated assaults increased 2.6%, from 190 in 1984 to 195 last year.

“We feel pretty comfortable with the rate of crimes against persons, which are only about 6.5% of total crime,” Altounian said.

Robberies in Glendale increased 10.5%, from 238 reported in 1984 to 263 last year. Car thefts increased 9.5%, from 842 in 1984 to 922 last year.

Murders Down 38%

In Northeast Los Angeles, the largest decreases in reported crimes occurred in residential burglaries and homicides.

Murders were down 38%, from 31 in 1984 to 19 last year. Residential burglaries dropped by 18%, from 3,453 in 1984 to 2,831 last year.

Other decreases include theft from autos, down from 3,391 rein 1984 to 3,197 last year.

Slight increases, averaging 1.8%, in business burglaries, robberies and auto theft were reported in 1985 over the previous year.

Forcible rape increased 20%, from 67 reported in 1984 to 81 last year. Aggravated assaults rose, from 460 in 1984 to 569 last year, an increase of 23%.

Outgoing Northeast Division commander, Capt. Robert Taylor, said the overall crime decrease is the result of “aggressive enforcement and a special problems unit that helped nip many problems in the bud.”

Also, Taylor said, “the Legislature is demanding that burglars be treated more harshly, so burglars are going to jail.”