THE ROBBERY RUB

ROBBERY: TOUGHER TO SOLVE

Of the four major felonies committed against people (as opposed to property), robbery has, during the last decade, had the lowest clearance rate-the lowest percentage “solved.” The clearance rates for homicide and assault commonly run in excess of 60%, between 50% and 60% for rape. But robbery has proved a much tougher crime to solve. Here’s how the combined clearance rates of homicide aggravated assault and rape compare withy that of robbery during the last 10 years:

WHO ROBS?

Analysis of 1988 arrest records in Orange County yields this demographic picture of robbers in Orange County:

Arrests Percent TOTAL 956 100% BY SEX Men 870 91% Women 86 9% BY RACE Whites 407 42% Latinos 344 36% Blacks 161 17% Others 44 5%

Arrests Percent BY AGE Adults (18 and older) 808 85% Juveniles 148 15% Less than 10 years old 3 * 11-15 years 54 6% 16-17 91 9% 18-20 197 21% 21-24 178 19% 25-29 212 22% 30-39 182 19% 40 and older 39 4%

* Less than 1%

ROBBERY AS A PERCENTAGE OF PERSON CRIMES 1979 Homicide: 1% Rape: 9% Robbery: 43% Aggravated assault: 47% 1988Homicide: 1% Rape: 6% Robbery: 36% Aggravated assault: 57%

ROBBERY BY CITY--1988*

Total % of Rate/1,000 City Robberies Total Residents Anaheim 620 16 2.5 Brea 13 + 0.4 Buena Park 111 3 1.7 Costa Mesa 132 4 1.4 Cypress 67 2 1.5 Dana Point N/A -- -- Fountain Valley 74 2 1.3 Fullerton ** 207 5 1.9 Garden Grove 377 10 2.8 Huntington Beach 154 4 0.8 Irvine *** 40 1 0.4 Laguna Beach 13 + 0.5 La Habra 67 2 1.4 La Palma 14 + 0.9 Los Alamitos 16 1 1.3 Mission Viejo N/A -- -- Newport Beach 52 1 0.7 Orange 194 5 1.8 Placentia 32 1 0.8 San Clemente 34 1 0.9 San Juan Capistrano 21 1 0.9 Santa Ana 1,041 27 4.4 Seal Beach 28 1 1.0 Stanton 86 2 3.0 Tustin 89 2 1.9 Villa Park 7 + 1.0 Westminster 166 4 2.3 Yorba Linda 3 + 0.1 Unincorporated areas 203 5 0.6 TOTAL 3,864 100 1.7

* Most recent year available

** Includes two robberies reported on the Cal State Fullerton campus

*** Includes one robbery reported on the UCI campus

+ Less than 1%

Note: Total includes two robberies reported by the California Department of Parks and Recreation and one reported by the California State Police

N/A: Information for individual city not available; included in “unincorporated areas”

ROBBERS’ CHOICE Guns are declining as the weapon of choice among county robbers. A decade ago, six in 10 robberies were committed with a firearm: by 1985 that proportion had declined to five in 10. And in 1988, the most recent complete year for which information is available, it was four in 10.

Strong-arm tactics appear to be taking the place of guns, as the percentages of all robberies committed with knives or some other kind of weapon have remained comparatively unchanged during the last 10 years.

The following chart compares the percentage of all robberies committed with guns to those in which strong-arm tactics were used: ROBBERY WEAPONS

Year Gun Strong-Arm *Knife Other 1988 1,579 1,383 570 332 1987 1,511 1,172 555 386 1986 1,825 1,214 653 364 1985 1,803 1,039 614 290 1984 1,682 998 656 307 1983 1,498 918 486 173 1982 2,042 906 511 206 1981 1,905 965 547 199 1980 2,043 955 567 195 1979 2,122 773 496 181 10-YEAR AVERAGE 1,801 1,032 566 263

* Includes other cutting instruments Source: California Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Criminal Statistics and Special Services