Molester Data in Libraries Urged : Crime: Bill would make names and descriptions of offenders available. Attorney general’s report shows ’93 major offenses down 3.8% in state. Totals in O.C. vary greatly.

Atty. Gen. Daniel Lungren, California’s top law enforcement official, Tuesday called for legislation to make available at county libraries the names, pictures and descriptions of convicted child molesters.

With crime dominating the 1994 legislative session, Lungren also released a report showing that major crime dropped by 3.8% across California in the first nine months of 1993, but that homicide increased by 2.6%, based on preliminary reports of 49 police agencies in the state.

Lungren’s crime report showed that, overall, violent crime in California dropped 4.1% from 1992 to 1993. Forcible rape declined the most, falling 7.5%. It was the fifth year in a row that rape decreased.

Property crime, including burglary and auto theft, dropped by 3.7%. At the same time, Lungren reported an 18.9% increase in the legal sale of guns, with 665,229 firearms sold in 1993.

In his State of the Public Safety speech, Lungren announced his support for a bill making the names, criminal histories, physical descriptions and photos of all felony child molesters available at county libraries, with updates twice a year.

“In a dangerous and uncertain world, parents should be empowered with the information they need to protect their children,” Lungren told the Comstock Club, an organization of business people.

Lungren said he believes parents would use the information to notify police whenever they see people matching the descriptions of molesters at parks or near schools.

“I’m not afraid of empowering people,” Lungren said.

In Washington state, which has a similar law, people in Lynnwood, north of Seattle, torched the home of a convicted molester last July. The Washington law gives law enforcement authorities the right to release addresses of sex offenders, but does not require them to do so.

To protect against vigilantism, Lungren said his proposal would not allow for molesters’ addresses to be publicly released. But the communities and ZIP codes in which they live would become available.

Lungren’s proposal will be in a bill being pushed by Assemblywoman Barbara Alby (R-Fair Oaks). The measure seeks to deter people from attacking molesters by adding five years to the prison terms of anyone convicted of using the information about molesters to commit a felony.

California has 64,614 registered sex offenders, 20,236 of whom live in Los Angeles County. Lungren’s aides did not know how many registered sex offenders are convicted child molesters.

Seven Orange County cities and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department were included in the report released Tuesday, and the results varied drastically from category to category. For example, in Huntington Beach, aggravated assaults jumped nearly 57%, but in Fullerton they dropped nearly 18%.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department reported a 28% increase in violent crimes and a 36% increase in aggravated assaults, but only a 1% increase in property crimes.

“All counties are experiencing an increase in violence--acts of violence that can encompass everything from domestic violence to gang activity,” said Lt. Dan Martini of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “You can see a pattern in the increases we’ve experienced.”

Martini pointed to recent violent crimes in south Orange County, characterizing them as “a wake-up call for us to act before the situation gets out of hand, a window of opportunity for us to start placing priorities on these types of issues. We have an opportunity to turn that trend around, an opportunity we are now trying to seize.”

While the city of Santa Ana has also experienced increases in violent crime, according to Lt. Robert Helton, “for the last several years we have noticed a continued decrease in the area of property crimes.”

Helton said it is difficult to explain these two trends.

“It could be that criminals are doing things differently,” he said, robbing individuals at gunpoint or knifepoint, rather than breaking into unoccupied buildings.

“Sometimes it may just be getting some people off the street who are habitual criminals against property,” he said.

Lungren blamed the rise in homicide on juveniles, who he said are becoming increasingly violent. He called for legislation requiring juveniles age 16 or 17 who use firearms in a crime to be charged as adults.

He said legislation should be passed allowing prosecutors to charge those who illegally give a firearm to a minor with a felony, and said minors who use guns illegally should lose their driver’s licenses and cars.

Lungren attributed the drop in crime to increased incarceration, pointing out that 120,000 people are in state prisons today, compared to 24,500 in 1980. He noted that the Department of Corrections budget is $2.7 billion, or $85 for every Californian.

Calling for more prisons, Lungren asked, “Could you look the parents of a murdered or molested child in the eye and tell them we’re not prepared to pay $85.87 apiece and even more to keep society’s predators behind bars?”

Times staff writer Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this story

Decreasing Crime

Reported crimes in selected O.C. cities compared to Los Angeles city and county. California Crime Index reflects the number of reported violent and property crimes.

Total To Crime Index violent crime proper Jurisdiction 1992 1993 % chg 1992 1993 1992 Anaheim 4,498 4,782 +6.3 801 977 3,697 Fullerton 1,778 1,640 -7.8 346 310 1,432 Garden Grove 2,479 2,283 -7.9 485 464 1,994 Huntington Beach 1,725 2,176 +26.1 346 452 1,379 Irvine 996 766 -23.1 74 62 922 Orange 1,616 1,499 -1.1 272 275 1,244 Santa Ana 5,584 5,327 -4.6 1,542 1,584 4,042 Los Angeles 107,562 98,778 -8.2 43,659 42,032 63,903 Orange County* 1,146 1,221 +6.5 240 306 906 Los Angeles County* 18,846 17,073 -9.4 9,369 8,296 9,477

tal ty crime Jurisdiction 1993 Anaheim 3,805 Fullerton 1,330 Garden Grove 1,819 Huntington Beach 1,724 Irvine 704 Orange 1,224 Santa Ana 3,743 Los Angeles 56,746 Orange County* 915 Los Angeles County* 8,777

Note: Figures are for January-June, 1992 and 1993

* Unincorporated areas only

Source: California Department of Justice