Data Show Continued Drop in O.C. Crime

Countering the state trend, crime in Orange County dropped for a record ninth straight year in 2000, with murders plunging 39% to their lowest level in more than three decades, according to data released Monday.

Overall, major crime dipped by nearly 3% in Orange County, which saw declines in everything from robberies to serious assaults. Only rapes increased last year, by 5% to 499.

The news comes as crime rates level out or creep upward elsewhere in California after nearly a decade of steep declines. Statewide, major crime rose about 2% last year, according to the California Crime Index.

In Los Angeles County, there were increases across the board, from a 2% rise in robberies to a 12% jump in killings. In Riverside County, crime overall rose 1.3%, but homicides dropped about 11% and rapes fell about 30%.

Even in Orange County, however, police officials noted that the downward spiral in reported crimes seems to be drawing to an end. Last year’s decline was the smallest in eight years, and compares with double-digit decreases in the previous few years.

The new crime index, compiled and published by the state Department of Justice, measures homicides, rapes, assaults, robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts.

The most dramatic decline in Orange County’s crime came in murders, which fell from 92 in 1999 to 56 in 2000. The county’s murder rate now stands at 1.9 killings per 100,000 residents--the lowest since 1967, when the county reported a rate of 1.7 with a total of 22 slayings.

The low rate is even more striking coming less than a decade after the county saw killings reach nearly 200 in 1993, when gang-related slayings hit a peak.

Police officials across the county credited aggressive gang enforcement for a fall in gang-related killings over the last decade.

In Santa Ana, the 17 homicides last year were slightly above the 15 the previous year, one of the lowest ever. Only five were tied to gang violence. In 1993 there were 78 murders, more than half of them tied to gang violence.

“The streets are a lot safer than they were 10 years ago,” said Lt. Hugh Mooney, who leads Santa Ana’s gang detail.

The Santa Ana Police Department credits Mooney’s unit and a mixture of other aggressive initiatives. The district attorney’s office has set up a special unit at police headquarters to prosecute gang crimes exclusively. And a Community Oriented Policing task force focuses on troubled neighborhoods, setting up stings and undercover investigations to identify and attack a variety of problems.

“All of those things combined have been very helpful in reducing crime in our city,” said Officer Mario Corona, a police spokesman.

Garden Grove saw the biggest drop in actual murders, from 11 to 4, but the number of sexual assaults spiked from 26 to 45. That jump prompted an internal analysis to determine whether a serial rapist might be to blame.

“We had increases in domestic violence-related rapes, statutory rapes and other one-time events, but not serial rapes,” Capt. Dave Abrecht said. “We tried to find some patterns we could work with, but we could not find any to focus enforcement or education efforts on.”

Like Santa Ana, Garden Grove attacks gang problems on several different fronts, including a specialized gang suppression unit. Abrecht said only one of the four murders last year was gang-related.

“That’s one crime where we would have an impact . . . because we can do a lot of proactive things to reduce the number of assaults and murders in that area,” he said.

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Bucking the Trend

Countering state and national trends, Orange County major crimes dropped again last year, with homicides alone falling 39%, according to figures released Monday by the state attorney general.

California

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1999 2000 Per 100,000 Per 100,000 Crimes residents Crimes residents % Change Total 600,167 1,763 613,788 1,780 +2.3 Homicide 2,006 5.9 2,074 6.0 +3.4

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Orange Co.

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1999 2000 Per 100,000 Per 100,000 Crimes residents Crimes residents % Change Total 31,432 1,117 30,564 1,056 -2.8 Homicide 92 3.3 56 1.9 -39.1

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Los Angeles Co.

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1999 2000 Per 100,000 Per 100,000 Crimes residents Crimes residents % Change Total 200,826 2,051 214,899 2,212 +7.0 Homicide 891 9.1 1,000 10.3 +12.2

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Riverside Co.

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1999 2000 Per 100,000 Per 100,000 Crimes residents Crimes residents % Change Total 32,253 2,144 32,683 2,072 +1.3 Homicide 89 5.9 79 5.0 -11.2

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Source: California Crime Index