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Arcadia Weekly Feb 11, 2015
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Property Crime in Arcadia Drops in 2014; Assault Totals Remain Constant while Murders, Rapes Slightly Increase
2/10/2015
BY JOE TAGLIERI
Major crimes dropped significantly in 2014 compared with 2013, according to statistics presented recently in the city manager’s annual speech on key issues and events in Arcadia.
In his “State of the City” presentation recapping major goings on last year as well as what’s on the horizon for 2015, City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto reported preliminary totals of major crime incidents through 2014.
The most significant drop was in robberies, falling 37 percent compared with 2013. Burglaries, thefts and stolen vehicles each fell between 20 and 30 percent.
Police Chief Bob Guthrie observed that “2013 was not a very good year as far as property crimes go,” he said in reference to the nearly 1,600 reported incidents.
The chief cited several key reasons for 2014’s property crime reduction.
“Number one, we work better and more consistently with our regional partners,” Guthrie said in a phone interview.
He pointed to the task force based at APD headquarters representing 11 cities in the San Gabriel Valley’s western sector that specializes in surveillance and sting operations.
“Those cities have pooled together resources that allow us to provide a six-person team with a lieutenant that administrates it to go out and deal with property crimes and [violent] personal crimes” such as homicide and rape, Guthrie said.
The chief also highlighted the increased speed of getting crime trend information to frontline officers and supervisors.
“What used to take a week minimally and often upwards of 10 to 14 days to receive information that started to identify trends, consistencies or patterns, we’re now getting in 24 hours,” he said. “So our guys in the street, when they’re not busy handling calls for service, can go proactively to areas of town where we have the highest rate of crime recently based on type of crime, M.O. and other types of patterns.”
In early 2014 the APD “had the greatest run of apprehensions of people breaking into homes” that based largely on calls from suspicious neighbors resulted in the arrest of 14 burglars, Guthrie recalled.
“When you are taking that number of people to jail for those crimes, the word does get out and you have a lull in those types of crimes in your area,” he added.
Another key factor contributing to the reduction in property crime was the Police Department’s “See Something, Say Something” public outreach effort that encouraged community members to step up reports of suspicious activity, Guthrie said.
Upticks of 13 percent were reported for DUIs and the APD’s number of arrests.
The most violent crimes — murder and rape — are very uncommon in Arcadia, according to Guthrie. There was, however, a spike in homicides in 2014 compared with 2013’s zero incidents.
“We had three murders last year,” Guthrie said via email. “Two were family-related homicides, and the last involved a suspect that was killed in a high speed traffic collision where his partner suspect in the crime was the driver of the vehicle.”
Rape and sexual assault incidents were up slightly compared with the one crime recorded for 2013, according to Guthrie, who declined to provide a more specific number until he had a chance to more closely vet the raw data.
Assaults have remained steady at about 150 incidents each year since 2011.
In his Jan. 22 “State of the City” presentation, Lazzaretto mentioned the likely appearance of what may appear as a significant reduction in major crimes when this year’s stats are tallied.
“Proposition 47 was adopted statewide that changed many felonies into misdemeanors,” Lazzaretto reiterated in an email. “Going forward, things that used to be in a major crimes category may be reclassified as minor ones.
“For instance, many robberies will now be considered thefts,” he explained. “So, next year it may look like there is a big drop in major crimes with an equal increase in lesser ones.”
According to Guthrie, recent changes in California law such as Prop. 47 and Assembly Bill 109 aimed at reducing overcrowded prison populations contributed to Arcadia’s 2013 crime increase.
“We were dealing with a lot of people who were ‘A.B. 109ers,’ as we call them, and a lot of people we didn’t catch I have no doubt were A.B. 109ers committing crimes in our city,” Guthrie said. “Now we deal with Prop. 47, which takes a big hammer out of our hands as far as being able to keep people in jail.”
Lazzaretto’s presentation revealed that about a third of major crimes in Arcadia take place at the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall.
“You can go there and as long as you don’t steal 950 dollars’ worth of products, you can go there with every absolute intention to steal — have a ‘booster bag’ and everything — and it’s just a misdemeanor,” Guthrie said.
Finalized totals of major crime incident totals for 2014 will be released sometime in the spring and posted on the city’s website.
