Serious Crime Rises 9.5% in Simi, but Violent Incidents Are Down

Serious crime in Simi Valley, the nation’s safest large city in 1993, rose sharply last year. But violent crimes against people dropped even more, police reported Wednesday.

Simi Valley offenses were up from 2,892 to 3,167 in the eight categories of violent and property crime reported to the FBI each year for nationwide comparison.

The overall 9.5% increase in serious crime was led by double-digit jumps in theft and auto theft in 1994, according to year-end statistics.

But at the same time, murder, rape, robbery and felony assaults declined 12.3% last year.

Police credited the Northridge earthquake with contributing to the reduction of violent offenses.

“The earthquake was something that I think upturned a lot of people’s lives,” said Lt. Anthony H. Harper III, a department spokesman. “It caused a lot of people to re-evaluate their lives, I think, and make changes in their lives. And I think a lot of people were home during this time taking care of business.”

The number of felonies rose an alarming 17.4%, but the increase came mostly in crimes that were not aimed directly at people, such as forgery, possession of weapons and arson, police reported.

And police also arrested 26.8% more felony suspects in 1994 than the year before.

Police Chief Willard R. Schlieter credited his Special Enforcement Section with reducing the number of street crimes such as robbery.

“We’ve been pretty busy harassing--in a legal way--people that are under the influence of drugs,” he said. “And I think that might be related to the kind of on-the-street (arrests).”

Police also made advances against vandalism such as graffiti. The total number of graffiti reports dropped from 4,083 in 1993 to 3,803 in 1994, a decrease of 6.9%, the new report said.

The biggest drop came in gang-related graffiti, which fell by 27.6% to 394 incidents.

“I would attribute that to the very aggressive, proactive enforcement by the Special Enforcement Section,” Harper said. “It does have an impact.

He was referring to a specialized squad of officers aimed at chronic communitywide crime problems such as gang violence.

One of the biggest increases in property crime came in car thefts, which rose 14%. Car owners reported 423 vehicles stolen in 1994.

Detectives blamed the rise largely on out-of-town thieves who drove in from the San Fernando Valley, hot-wired vehicles and drove out again. But after police began stepping up enforcement at the end of the summer, the number of thefts began falling off, they said.

And despite the overall increase in reported crime, Harper said, the statistics for 1994 were close to 1992’s total.

“In 1993, we were the safest city and, if your stats go up, you may get knocked out of the rating,” Harper said. “But Simi Valley has always been a very safe city to live in. We’ve always been in the top five, and often in the top three. Although our statistics fluctuate, the important thing is we remain a safe city.”

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Crime in Simi Valley These numbers show serious crime reported to the Simi Valley Police Department in 1993 and 1994. The data is forwarded to the U. S. Department of Justice, which tracks crime nationwide.

1993 1994 % change Homicide 0 1 -- Rape 13 9 -30.8 Robbery 54 40 -25.9 Aggravated assault 185 171 -7.6 Burglary 612 653 +6.7 Theft 1,634 1,835 +12.3 Auto theft 371 423 +14.0 Arson 23 35 +52.2 Total crime 2,892 3,167 +9.5

Source: Simi Valley Police Department