Santa Paula Posts Nearly 13% Crime Jump in 2001

Santa Paula’s decade-long decline in crime ended abruptly in 2001 as reported offenses jumped nearly 13% because of sharp rises in robbery and theft.

“We’ve had an increase in crime that’s nothing to brag about,” Police Chief Robert Gonzales said. “But we’ve had a big decrease in the last few years.”

The Santa Paula Police Department, the first local police agency to release a crime report for 2001, said crime increased from 757 reported offenses in 2000 to 853 last year, with robberies soaring 51%, from 37 to 56.

However, the crime rate for Santa Paula--a farming community of about 29,000 residents--is half its peak of a decade ago. And last year’s surge follows a large decline from 1999 to 2000, making the crime rate last year about the same as in 1999.

Santa Paula’s crime total reflects offenses in eight categories reported annually to the FBI--murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, theft, auto theft and arson.

Gonzales said crimes such as theft and robbery are closely tied to the number of drug addicts and career criminals on the streets.

“It all depends on who’s out and who’s in [prison],” he said. “We hit some of the criminals we know in 1999, so things were down in 2000. Now some of those guys have gotten out, and we think they’re doing burglaries and robberies.”

Officers recently arrested two people, ages 21 and 22, on suspicion of burglary. Authorities said both are repeat criminals who face a possible conviction on a third felony--a third strike that would put them behind bars for 25 years to life.

“We believe they have also been involved with robberies,” Gonzales said.

As is often the case in a small town such as Santa Paula, Gonzales said he has known one of the suspects all his life. “I knew him growing up here,” the chief said, “but now he’s going to be away for a long, long time.”

Crime increased in six of the eight categories, though it dropped in murder and rape.

“It’s not encouraging,” Gonzales said. “I’m in the process right now of analyzing the data month to month so we can see what things we’ve done that worked, and what things we can do.”

An encouraging sign, he said, is reflected in the drop in robberies--to only three in December, well below the monthly rate for the rest of the year.

Another promising development, officials said, is the addition of two officers to the 32-officer force. One is being trained specifically to track the activities of street gang members and drug abusers, Gonzales said.

A new program to begin this month teams a police officer with a county probation officer to work with youths considered at high risk of becoming criminals. The departments will receive $80,000 annually for two years from the state to cover the extra costs.

About two dozen “high-risk offenders” have been identified for attention because they have repeatedly gotten into trouble in Santa Paula, authorities said.

“We’ll work with them and their families,” Gonzales said, “so we don’t see their younger brothers and sisters committing to crime.”

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Santa Paula Crime Statistics

(tabular data not included)