High Desert Schools Report Crime Surge : Delinquency: The study bears out claims that campuses are becoming tougher as growth has brought an influx of students from more urban areas.

Reported crimes in the Antelope Valley’s three largest public school districts grew at a faster pace last year than in schools both statewide and in Los Angeles County as a whole, according to state figures to be released today.

Antelope Valley school officials blamed the higher crime figures on a new, more crime-prone student population that they said is the result of the area’s rapid urbanization. They also cited rapidly increasing enrollments, whereas Los Angeles and statewide enrollments grew only slightly last year.

“There’s a definite change in the kind of kid. They’re tougher. They do more crime on campus,” said Stephen Gocke, director of pupil-personnel services for the Lancaster district. “We don’t have that sleepy, desert, aerospace-oriented community any more,” he said.

Last year, the Lancaster School District had 334 incidents of reported crime, a 44.6% increase from the year before. The Antelope Valley Union High School District had 812 reported crimes, up nearly 20%. And the Palmdale School District had 199 reported crimes, up 8.1%.

The Lancaster and Antelope Valley school district crime increases far outstripped their enrollment gains. Palmdale’s crime, however, grew more slowly than its enrollment. By contrast, crime in schools statewide grew by 7.7% and increased 1.3 % in Los Angeles county schools. Both had only small enrollment gains.

The survey data proves statistically what Antelope Valley school officials have been saying on their own: Antelope Valley campuses are becoming tougher and more crime-plagued as growth has brought an influx of students from Los Angeles and other more urban areas.

The overall crime increases for the Antelope Valley and Lancaster districts were largely driven by higher numbers of assaults by students. Those climbed 33.3% in the Antelope Valley district and 15% in Lancaster, constituting their largest single category of crime last year.

The Palmdale district had a better showing, with a nearly 29% decrease in assaults, from 70 to 50. But the district’s overall increase stemmed largely from a 70.5% jump in reported cases of vandalism--its largest category of crime--compared to the prior year.

The Antelope Valley district’s 588 reported assaults by students last year accounted for more than 72% of its total reported crimes. Likewise, the Lancaster district’s 198 assaults accounted for more than 59% of its crime. Palmdale’s 75 vandalism episodes made up nearly 38% of its crime.

Antelope Valley school officials said funding shortages have made it tough to cope with increasing crime. The high school district recently hired a sheriff’s deputy to patrol its campuses. And a major school arson this year has spurred Lancaster officials to consider beefing up their security.

The crime figures are part of an annual state survey of reported school crime, the latest comparing the 1988-89 school year with the year before. Although schools and districts can vary in how earnestly they track their crime, school officials said the statistics are still generally valid.