Crime in Antelope Valley Rises 29%; Officials Put Blame on Recession, Gangs : Statistics: More than 3,700 incidents were reported in the first three months of this year.

Crime in the Antelope Valley increased a whopping 29% during the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, according to sheriff’s statistics.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials at the Antelope Valley station in Lancaster blamed the steep rise on the lingering recession, high levels of unemployment and increased gang activity. A decade ago, there were virtually no gang members in the valley, but there are now estimated to be 1,800 in the region.

In the past two years, while the raw numbers of reported crime in the Antelope Valley generally were growing slowly, the crime rate--crimes per 10,000 population--were often reported to be falling because the population was growing faster than crime.

But between January and March this year, 3,739 serious crimes were reported in the Antelope Valley, up 29% over the 2,909 reported during the same period a year ago. Crime was up in seven of eight categories, including murder, robbery, assault and burglary. Rape was the only category to show a decline.

The figures were only slightly better when adjusted for population. The Antelope Valley had 132 crimes per 10,000 residents in the first quarter this year; the population is estimated at 283,000. That was up 17% over the rate of 113 crimes per 10,000 in the first quarter of 1991 with 258,000 residents.

Sgt. Bob Denham, a spokesman for the sheriff’s station, said the tough economic times are probably contributing to the substantially higher numbers of robberies, assaults and burglaries, as well as the influence of gangs.

Reported robberies were up 25%, from 111 in the first quarter of 1991 to 139 in the most recent quarter. Assaults were up 39%, from 612 to 851 in the quarter-to-quarter comparison. Burglaries were up 33%, from 613 to 813. And larceny was up 22%, from 1,185 to 1,440 reported incidents.