Robberies and arrests in Los Alamitos were down, but burglaries and calls to police were up in 2011, according to annual crime statistics released by the Police Department.
According to the figures, the total number of serious crimes rose from 331 in 2010 to 344 in 2011. However, overall, the city had its third lowest crime rate in eleven years.
Scroll to the bottom of the story for a year-by-year chart of the total number of serious crimes from 2001 to 2011.
“We’re a good, safe neighborhood,” said Police Chief Todd Mattern. “Our crime rate is lower than the cities around us.”
Mattern added that the stats don’t reveal any “drastic trends.”
"Burglaries are up right now, but they fluctuate a few percent every year," he said.
The number of vehicle thefts rose from 26 in 2010 to 29 in 2011, and the number of thefts of vehicle parts and vehicle-related items nearly doubled, from 9 to 16.
Overall larcenies -- which include vehicle breakins, pickpocketing and shoplifting -- rose from 179 to 195.
Burglary, robbery and larceny are all similar crimes but have different definitions.
Robbery is theft through the use of violence or threat of violence.
Burglary is theft from a locked structure. This does not include breaking into a vehicle, which is considered a type of larceny.
Larceny is any theft that is not from a locked structure and does not use violence or a threat of violence.
There were 80 recorded burglaries in 2011, compared with 74 in 2010.
Robberies decreased from seven in 2010 to four in 2011.
Homicides and aggravated assaults stayed unchanged. There were no homicides in 2010 or 2011, and six aggravated assaults each year.
There were no recorded forcible rapes in 2011 and one in 2010.
According to Mattern, there has been a perception of major increases in certain crimes, but he said it's actually just that people are more aware of the crimes going on around them.
About 18 months ago, the department stepped up its attempts to educate locals about what’s going on in their community, including starting a weekly summary of serious crime incidents.
“We really wanted to get the word out there that the residents need to take steps to take care of their belongs and to help us prevent crime,” Mattern said.
While greater public awareness is a good thing, Mattern said, it's made people think there's "more going on" crimewise in Los Alamitos.
Also in 2011, arrests dropped from 420 to 374, while calls to police rose from 8,083 to 8,251.
Mattern said the department encourages people to report anything that looks suspicious.
“One of the things we frequently hear from people is that they don’t call us because they don’t want to bother us,” Mattern said. “We want those calls. Our officers are out in the field, and we’re waiting for the calls.”
Mayor Troy Edgar said the city is “absolutely” safe. “We just continue to get excellent service to the community through our police services,” he said.
Los Alamitos Crime reports
CATEGORY
2010
2011
Percentage change
Homicide
0
0
0 percent
Rape
1
0
-100 percent
Robbery
7
4
-43 percent
Aggravated assault
6
6
0 percent
Simple assault
38
30
-21 percent
Burglary
74
80
8 percent
Larceny
179
195
9 percent
Auto theft
26
29
12 percent
Total
331
344
4 percent
LARCENY BY CATEGORY
2010
2011
Percentage change
Pickpocket
3
2
-33 percent
Purse Snatch
1
2
100 percent
Shoplifting
8
16
100 percent
From Auto
95
94
-1 percent
Auto Parts & Acc.
9
16
78 percent
Bicycles
15
17
13 percent
From Building
12
7
-42 percent
From Coin Machine
3
2
-33 percent
Other
33
39
18 percent
Total
179
195
9 percent
CALLS FOR SERVICE
Officer initiated
9,558
8,210
-14 percent
Calls for service
8,083
8,251
2 percent
TOTAL
17,641
16,561
-7 percent
REPORTS TAKEN
Reports
1,320
1,291
-2 percent
Arrests
420
374
-11 percent
Field interviews
180
189
5 percent
The total number of Part 1* crimes in Los Alamitos from 2001-2011
2001 357 2002 326 2003 390 2004 501 2005 431 2006 447 2007 439 2008 363 2009 357 2010 331 2011 344(“Part 1 crimes" is an FBI term for incidents of murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson)
A great example of that is Purse Snatching from above. We had a 100% increase in purse snatching. But as bad as that sounds, it's actually not bad at all. We went from 1 to 2. 100% increase, but in the scope of over 10,000 people living their daily lives in the city that actual odds are rounded to 1:10,000 on any given day or .01%. So please, keep it all in perspective. Los Al is a safe community with an excellent first responder situation. Todd and all in his department do an excellent job.