Violent Crime Rises in State’s Large Cities

For the first time in eight years, crime has increased in the state’s most populous cities and counties, according to a state attorney general’s report.

Serious crime increased 3.5% in 2000 compared to 1999 in cities with populations of more than 100,000, said Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, who released the figures Tuesday.

The report includes statistics for six major categories: homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

In each category, the figures increased, with the largest jump being in motor vehicle theft: 8.9%. The number of homicides reported increased 3.9%, and forcible rapes jumped 6.6% in major cities.

“For the first time in eight years, we are reporting an increase in crime in California,” said Lockyer in a prepared statement. “We must continue to invest in new, improved investigative techniques and crime prevention strategies so that the generation that needs more schools today doesn’t need more prisons tomorrow.”

Eric Monkkonen, a UCLA history policy studies professor who studies crime, said the statewide reversal comes as somewhat of a surprise.

“So many agencies have made so much effort for the past decade or two to drive crime down [that] this is a real disappointing change,” he said. “And it’s bad news for everybody.

“Some people think that crime has some sort of natural level and that we had reached that,” he said. “I think it was still quite high and had a way to go.”

As the Los Angeles Police Department has reported in recent months, the city saw a large increase in homicides in 2000. The homicide figure jumped 27.5% last year, with 542 cases reported.

The overall violent crime numbers in Los Angeles also rose significantly--by 7.2%. Besides homicides, increases were seen in forcible rape, 13.3%; robbery, 7.7%; aggravated assault, 6.5%; burglary, 13.5%; and motor vehicle theft, 20.1%.

One of the largest crime hikes in the state was in Glendale.

A 57.4% spike in aggravated assaults and 23.9% more burglaries helped cause an overall increase in violent crime of 37.2%.

In Glendale, the number of homicides doubled to six, the forcible rape statistics were unchanged, robbery climbed 2.8% and motor vehicle theft jumped 8.6%, the report said.

The large increase in assaults--518 in 2000--was partially a result of not more crimes, but more people reporting them, said Sgt. Rick Young, Glendale police spokesman.

“We targeted domestic violence cases and got more victims to come forward and file criminal charges,” he said. “Things have been going on. It’s just been unreported. We think we’re getting a more accurate picture of the numbers of assaults in our community.”

The overall serious crime level increased 2.4% in Sacramento, 1.1% in Riverside and 8.2% in Fresno. The numbers decreased 3.9% in San Jose, 1.7% in San Francisco and 0.5% in San Diego.

One of the largest decreases in crime occurred in the city of Orange, where overall violent crime dropped 29.9%. Robbery and aggravated assault dipped 17.8% and 35.4%, respectively.

One homicide was reported last year in Orange, the same number as the previous year.