LAGUNA HILLS : Police Chief Disputes Crime Study’s Results

A recent report by the attorney general’s office that indicated an increase in the city’s crime rate was misleading, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department official said this week.

The California attorney general’s report did not include burglaries or larceny, which dropped so dramatically in Laguna Hills that the city’s crime rate actually decreased last year, said Sheriff’s Capt. Tom McCarthy, who serves as the city’s police chief. The attorney general’s report said major crimes increased 7% in 1994 over the previous year.

Larceny alone accounts for 60% of the crimes reported in the city, McCarthy said. If the study had included that category, the city’s overall crime rate would have shown a 5% drop, he said.

Theft went down 11%, he said, while residential burglaries dropped 20%.

Last year, misdemeanor arrests increased 20%, while felony arrests went up 39%. The high arrest rate led South County cities by more than 20%, McCarthy said.

“We’re making Laguna Hills a safer city by removing the criminal element as soon as possible,” McCarthy told the council.

Figuring in the burglaries and thefts, Laguna Hills has the fifth lowest crime rate per capita in the county, said McCarthy, who was recently promoted to captain by the Sheriff’s Department and will be reassigned to head the county jail.