Crime down 9% in Burbank
Josh Kleinbaum
Crime in Burbank fell 9% in the first six months of this year
compared to the same period last year, including significant drops in
robberies and motor-vehicle thefts, according to statistics released
this week by the state attorney general’s office.
The statistics showed rises in just two of eight crime categories
tracked by the FBI.
“Crime is down overall because officers are being very proactive,”
Burbank Police spokesman Sgt. Will Berry said. “They’re making a lot
of stops, they’re very visible, they’re making a lot of arrests and
word gets out. And the detectives are following up aggressively.”
Berry also attributed the drop in crime to increased use of cell
phones. With phones readily available, Berry said the department gets
more calls as crimes are happening, instead of 10 minutes after the
fact, which makes it easier for the officers to do their jobs.
“We have a lot more eyes and ears,” he said.
Most of the calls the department gets on cell phones are about
road rage and reckless driving, but Berry said the department also
had a 10% increase in calls from cell phones about other crimes.
According to the bureau’s statistics -- which track homicides,
forcible rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, motor-
vehicle thefts, larceny thefts and arson -- total reported crimes in
Burbank from January to June dropped to 1,520 from 1,671 in the same
period of 2002.
The biggest dips came in robberies, which dropped from 56 to 31,
and motor- vehicle theft, which dropped from 301 to 239.
For the second consecutive year, no homicides occurred in Burbank,
and seven forcible rapes were reported, the same as 2002.
The only significant increase came in aggravated assaults, which
rose from 83 to 95. Aggravated assaults include domestic violence.
Berry said that the department has not had time to analyze those
numbers.
“We’re not sure if [the aggravated-assault increase] is due to an
increase in domestic-violence reporting, or what,” he said. “We have
to check that out.”