Newport and Costa Mesa see upticks in some crimes as overall numbers drop, FBI report says

Though the overall number of violent and property crimes fell last year in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Fountain Valley, some categories — such as robberies and burglaries in Newport and rapes in Costa Mesa — showed marked increases, according to an FBI report released this week.

Nationally, violent crimes — homicide, rape, robbery and assault likely to cause serious injury — declined 3.3% in 2018 compared with the previous year, and property crimes — burglary, larceny and vehicle theft — fell 6.3%, the FBI reported.

Violent and property offenses in Orange County closely followed the national trends, falling 3.5% and 6.2%, respectively.

The number of property crimes in 2018 fell 11.8% in Costa Mesa (3,792), 2.4% in Newport Beach (2,073) and 5.4% in Fountain Valley (1,496).

The number of violent crimes reported in Costa Mesa dropped 4.7% last year, to 344 from 361 in 2017. However, the city’s 75 reports of rape in 2018 made for a 21% increase from the previous year’s 62. That was slightly higher than the county’s 19% increase in rapes, according to the data.

Nationwide, incidents of rape rose 2.7%.

Costa Mesa saw three homicide cases in the latest report, up from one in 2017.

“As a department, any increase in crime is a concern for us,” said Police Chief Rob Sharpnack, who also pointed out the overall decrease in crimes. “Regardless of what the data shows, we work diligently to meet community expectations.”

Newport Beach saw an uptick in robberies from 21 in 2017 to 29 in the latest report, and burglaries rose from 361 to 397, according to the FBI.

Police Chief Jon Lewis said many of the robberiesy offenses in Newport Beach happen are targeted at retail establishments.

“A good percentage of those that we see began with a shoplifting,” incident, Lewis said. If a shoplifter is confronted, the case may be classified as a robbery. Lewis said arrests are made in a majority of robberies.

According to the latest 2018 figures, the city experienced more than 50% more burglaries per capita than the county overall, average (there are 297 burglary offenses per 100,000 inhabitants in Orange County, according to FBI data). and motor vehicle thefts also (163) spiked by about 23% in the city, resulting in 163 motor vehicle theft offenses, despite county-wide decreases, the data showed.

However, larceny offenses, which make up the largest number of property crimes, were down 7.2% in Newport, according to the report.

“We saw an increase in residential burglaries that can be attributed to a couple of trends and patterns that we’ve resolved with arrests,” Lewis said. “We had one significant serial burglar, but we also arrested some additional groups.”

Lewis said, noting that the city has seen a reversal and decline in residential burglaries so far this year.

Police reported no change in The number of violent crimes reported committed in Newport Beach last year was unchanged at 124 incidents. the data showed. where as Newport Beach had one reported one homicide in 2018; none when the previous year there were none, the data showed.

Among local cities whose crime rates were detailed in the report, the largest percentage drop in violent offenses crimes among area cities was in Fountain Valley, the department where the 52 reported 52 violent crimes in the latest report, in 2018 were a more than 235% drop from less than the previous year’s 68, according to the FBI the datashows. Larceny offenses decreased across all the those three reported cities, as they did in the county as a whole.

The report did not detail crime rates for Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach.

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