Car Theft Up But Burglary Down in 7 County Areas

A statewide report on crime shows increases in car theft rates last year in all but one of Orange County’s seven largest jurisdictions but also shows decreases in robberies and burglaries in all of them.

The report included crime statistics for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and police departments in Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Santa Ana.

Huntington Beach showed decreases in every category, including a 12.3% decrease in car thefts.

Statistics Hard to Explain

Jim Moore, a civilian employee who is in charge of statistical analysis for the Huntington Beach department, said it is almost impossible to determine the cause of crime increases and decreases.

“I can’t honestly say that the decreases were caused by any extra effort on our part,” Moore said. “The only task force we’ve really pushed is one on drunk driving offenders, and that isn’t included in the indexes.”

Moore said that because officers can’t be on every corner and in every home, police departments don’t have much control over the most serious crimes, such as homicides and rapes.

The data on the seven jurisdictions was included in a report this week from state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp on preliminary 1987 crime statistics collected from 48 of the state’s largest law enforcement agencies. The report also included data from the FBI Crime Index, which includes more categories than the California Crime Index. Neither index has been adjusted to account for population variations.

According to the report, burglaries decreased statewide by 9.7%. Van de Kamp attributed the improvement to law enforcement efforts, increased arrests for drug violations (which he said often involve people who commit property crimes to support their habits) and harsher prison sentences for convicted burglars.

The statistics showed an overall 1.9% drop in crime, despite an 11.7% statewide increase in car thefts and a 9.2% increase in aggravated assault.

The crime categories in the combined state and FBI indexes are homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, car theft, larceny-theft and arson.

In Orange County, the highest single-category increases were in Fullerton, where the car theft rate increased 26.5% over 1986, and in Garden Grove, where rapes increased 26%. The sharpest decreases in single categories were in Orange, where the arson rate decreased 58.4%, and in Santa Ana, where the robbery rate decreased 20.5%.

The only jurisdiction that had increases in more than half the eight categories from both indexes was the Sheriff’s Department, which showed a 24% increase in rape, a 5% increase in aggravated assaults, a 0.4% increase in car thefts and an 11% increase in arsons.

CRIMES REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES--1986-1987

Aggravated Jurisdiction Year Total Homicide Rape Robbery Assault Anaheim 1986 1,357 11 111 695 540 Police 1987 1,274 14 91 659 510 Department Change -6.1 -- -18.0 -5.2 -5.6 Fullerton 1986 437 3 35 165 234 Police 1987 458 2 50 148 256 Department Change 7.1 -- -- -10.3 14.5 Garden Grove 1986 1,047 12 50 455 530 Police 1987 962 10 63 431 458 Department Change -8.1 -- 26.0 -5.3 -13.8 Huntington Beach 1986 585 7 47 212 319 Police 1987 532 6 40 199 287 Department Change -9.1 -- -- -6.1 -10.0 Orange 1986 501 3 25 192 281 Police 1987 443 4 21 175 243 Department Change -11.6 -- -- -8.9 -13.5 Santa Ana 1986 1,722 31 77 1,005 609 Police 1987 1,575 31 87 799 658 Department Change -8.5 -- 13.0 -20.5 8.0 Orange County 1986 806 5 53 192 556 Sheriff’s 1987 817 7 66 160 584 Department Change 1.4 -- 24.5 -16.7 5.0

Motor Vehicle Larceny- Jurisdiction Total Burglary Theft Theft Arson Anaheim 7,394 5,352 2,042 9,193 92 Police 7,299 4,892 2,407 8,733 93 Department -1.3 -8.6 17.9 -5.0 1.1 Fullerton 2,330 1,642 688 4,072 25 Police 2,485 1,601 884 3,745 39 Department 6.7 -2.5 26.5 -8.0 -- Garden Grove 3,647 2,547 1,100 5,123 53 Police 3,818 2,458 1,360 5,265 61 Department 4.7 -3.5 23.6 2.8 15.1 Huntington Beach 3,412 2,501 911 5,518 43 Police 3,052 2,253 799 5,157 34 Department -10.6 -9.9 -12.3 -6.5 -- Orange 2,529 1,886 643 3,498 125 Police 2,371 1,648 723 3,766 52 Department -6.2 -12.6 12.4 7.7 -58.4 Santa Ana 7,749 4,767 2,962 13,028 124 Police 7,345 4,300 3,045 11,507 100 Department -5.2 -9.8 2.1 -11.7 -19.4 Orange County 4,637 3,737 900 6,015 154 Sheriff’s 4,168 3,264 904 5,883 171 Department -10.1 -12.7 0.4 -2.2 11.0

Data in table based on information submitted to the Bureau of Criminal Statistics as of Feb. 4, 1988.

Dash indicates that percentage was not calculated because the base number is less than 50.