Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Santa Clarita Disputes New Crime Study

The city has promoted itself as one of the five safest in the nation in recent years, but a study by a national magazine currently ranks Santa Clarita 47th out of 187 cities with more than 100,000 residents.

The study published in the June edition of Money Magazine is based on statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that total the number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults in each city during 1993, said Ira Hellman, a spokesman for the magazine.

Local officials said they were surprised by the results of the first-year study and questioned its accuracy. All said they felt Santa Clarita is a safe place to live.

“Every night you see people out there walking and jogging--families,” said Marv Dixon, operations lieutenant of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “That speaks strongly, I think, to the level of fear people have.”

The city reported a 4.9% increase in serious crimes during 1993. Serious gang crimes tripled in the Santa Clarita Valley, which includes unincorporated areas around the city of Santa Clarita. Sheriff’s officials attributed some of the increase to better record-keeping.

Santa Clarita, with about 125,000 residents, still had the fifth fewest crimes last year among U.S. cities with more than 100,000 residents, according to FBI figures released at the end of the 1993.

But that measured only the number of crimes committed, not the ratio of crimes per resident, so larger cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco had much higher totals regardless of their crime rate.

The FBI’s statistics include four categories not used in the magazine’s article: burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson and larceny--all crimes against property rather than a person, Hellman said.

Santa Clarita Mayor George Pederson said he feels the categories in Money’s article are the most valid ways to gauge personal safety in each community. But he added that he isn’t ready to accept their findings at face value, since there is no previous study by the magazine with which to compare figures. He said if the study is accurate, the city still fared well.

“That puts us in the top third, almost the top fourth,” he said. “I think we’re in pretty good company.”

Pederson said Santa Clarita’s crime rate is still much lower than many surrounding communities in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

The method each city uses to report its crime data needs to be analyzed before any definite conclusions can be made from the study, Dixon said. He said the assault totals at his station includeincidents that might not be reported by other jurisdictions, such as domestic disputes.