City Council
MEETING DATE: 3/8/2017
TITLE:
Title
2016 Crime Statistics Update
End
FROM:
George Crum, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
This item is presented for information, discussion and direction only.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The Police Department added a Crime Analyst to the organization in August of 2016. One function of the Crime Analyst is to track and assess past and current crime trends and prepare crime information data for review as we focus on reducing future crime patterns. This allows the Department to engage in intelligence led policing strategies and predictive policing. The Police Department uses historical crime data to deploy current personnel more effectively and efficiently to assist in reducing crime and the fear of crime in our community.
DISCUSSION:
In evaluating our Part 1 crimes from calendar year 2012 through calendar year 2016, staff looked at the total number of crimes committed each year. Our totals for each respective year are as follows: 2012 (1780 crimes), 2013 (1267 crimes), 2014 (1322 crimes), 2015 (1271 crimes) and 2016 (1236). The total number of crimes was lower in 2016 than during the previous year.
Many communities throughout California are experiencing higher crime rates in certain Part 1 crimes which are being blamed on a multitude of factors such as Prop 47, AB 109, Prop 57 and an economy still in recovery. Cathedral City has experienced a 30.6% reduction in listed Part 1 crimes from 2012 through 2016 and the city crime rate dropped 2.8% from 2015 through 2016.
We have gained additional resources since we formed a Gang Unit and joined the Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force in October 2015. In July 0f 2017, a Detective will be assigned to the RAID (Riverside Auto theft Interdiction Detail) Taskforce to provide more enforcement resources for our growing auto theft issue as the crime of auto theft continues to rise.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None
ATTACHMENTS:
None