YORBA LINDA : Mostly Non-Residents Arrested, Study Finds

A study of all arrests made in the city over a nine-month period this year shows that more than 60% of those taken into custody were non-residents.

During the study period, the Brea Police Department, which provides police service to Yorba Linda, made 946 arrests, 155 of them on felony charges. Yorba Linda residents accounted for 370 of the arrests, 55 of them for felonies. Suspects who lived outside the county were involved in 234 arrests, and those with addresses in other county cities accounted for 329 arrests.

The study was requested by the City Council after a council member raised the issue of annexing several unincorporated “islands” into the city.

Councilman John M. Gullixson wants to annex the land so that the Brea Police Department, rather than the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, will patrol those areas.

“There are (criminal) elements from outside the city that congregate where they won’t feel hassled” by police, Gullixson said. “Those unincorporated areas, which aren’t patrolled as well as the rest of our city, are appealing to them.”

According to the study, residents in the unincorporated areas within the city boundaries accounted for 13 arrests, none for felonies.