Crime Falls in County for 6th Year in a Row

Credit three-strikes laws, along with community-based policing and special units that search for criminals. Or maybe something law enforcement has little control over, such as the booming economy or an aging population.

Regardless, fewer serious crimes were committed across the country for the sixth consecutive year, a trend Orange County is happy to follow.

In that time, the crimes that county agencies report to the FBI have dropped 36%. Even more dramatic, the homicide rate has dropped 48%--nearly twice the national figure--since it peaked in 1993 when 196 people were killed.

“Two years back, we were cautiously optimistic,” said Anaheim Police spokesman Sgt. Joe Vargas. “Now we see it as a full-fledged trend. Total reported crime is probably about what it was in 1971. But try convincing the guy on the street corner.”

Indeed, the Orange County Annual Survey released last week showed that crime was the biggest concern among county residents.

The FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report, issued this week, tracks crime trends throughout the country, as reported to the FBI by local and state law enforcement agencies.

When the county crime rate is adjusted for the increase in population, it has dropped seven years in a row, according to state Department of Justice figures.

From 1996 to 1997, the last year for which statistics are available, crime fell 10% in Orange County, far more than the 2% drop in major crimes around the country, according to FBI statistics.

In some cities, crime rates should drop again this year. In Buena Park, for instance, the crime rate has fallen an additional 11% through October, said Police Chief Richard M. Tefank.

While police often point to their efforts at suppressing crime, many academics point to the aging of the population as the major factor, because males in their teens and 20s commit most crimes.

“The baby boomers, a quarter of the population, are getting older and maybe wiser, but they certainly are getting tireder,” said James Alan Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston.

Fox cautioned that the nationwide figures do not mean crime is down for all age and ethnic groups.

“Rates of homicides among some groups is considerably lower than it has been for decades, but among groups like youngsters, it is higher than 10 years ago,” he said.

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters credited cooperation among the Police Department, city agencies, schools and community groups with keeping crime from increasing, even though the city has the youngest population of the country’s 100 largest cities, with a median age of 26.

The FBI tracks violent crimes, including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes, including burglary, auto theft and larceny.

One benefit of the plummeting crime rate is that police have been able to spend more time on less serious offenses and investigate difficult cases more thoroughly.

In Buena Park, where serious crime was down 61% in the last four years, police arrested more people than ever last year, Tefank said. The reason is that officers spent more time pursuing misdemeanors that people commit before graduating to the more serious crimes, he said.

The safest part of Orange County last year was the unincorporated area, with 182.7 crimes for every 10,000 residents. The safest cities were Yorba Linda, Villa Park, Mission Viejo and Lake Forest.

The cities with the highest crime rates were Brea, which reported 527.4 crimes for every 10,000 residents, followed by Westminster, Costa Mesa and Stanton.

The city with the lowest rate of violent crime was Mission Viejo, with 12.7 incidents per 10,000 residents, followed by Laguna Niguel, Yorba Linda and Irvine. La Habra was the most violent city, with 72.1 per 10,000 residents, followed by Stanton and Anaheim.

The lowest rate of property crime was in the unincorporated sections of the county, 159.8, followed by Yorba Linda, Villa Park and Lake Forest. Brea reported the highest rate of property crime, with 492.5 per 10,000 residents, with Westminster and Costa Mesa next.

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Crime Control

Orange County’s crime rate dropped to its lowest level of the decade last year. Crimes per 10,000 residents:

1990: 605

1991: 589

1992: 561

1993: 530

1994: 493

1995: 460

1996: 391

1997: 351

Source: California attorney general’s office