This Month
SANDAG newsletter
provides information
on key projects & services
511 provides local assistance during wildfire emergency
2007 population
estimates released
San Diego County violent
crime rate lowest in
ten years
San Diego ridesharing
by the numbers
Get geared up for
Bike to Work Day!
SPRINTER prepares to
move North County
First San Diego-Tijuana binational strategic plan developed
rEgional snapshots
November Board Actions available online
San Diego County violent crime 
rate lowest in ten years
A new report from SANDAG shows the regional violent crime rate in the first half of 2007 is at a ten-year low.
The SANDAG Criminal Justice Research Division has released Crime in the San Diego Region: Mid-Year 2007 Statistics which details information regarding how many and what types of crimes were reported to local law enforcement agencies in the first half of 2007 and how these numbers compare to prior years.
The overall violent crime rate for the region decreased three percent in the first half of 2007, compared to the same period in 2006. Likewise, the region’s mid-year property crime rate also showed a one-year decrease of three percent — bringing it below 30.0 crimes per 1,000 residents (to 29.47) for the first time since 2001. These data are useful to local law enforcement agencies as they track the effectiveness of their prevention and response efforts on jurisdictional and regional crime rates. Other statistics found in the report:
- There were fewer homicides in the first half of 2007 (54), compared to 2006 (66), a decrease of 18 percent, more than any other crime.
- The number of burglaries and larcenies were both down (15% and 6%, respectively), compared to five years earlier.
- From 2006 to 2007, motor vehicle theft decreased in a number of North County jurisdictions (from 10% to 19% in Escondido, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Poway, and Vista), but increased in several South Bay and East County locations (from 11% to 56% in Chula Vista, El Cajon, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, and Santee).
- Robbery was the only violent crime to increase in number between 2006 and 2007. This was the fifth consecutive year of increases from a low of 1,554 in 2002.
SANDAG obtains crime data from every law enforcement agency in the county. Crimes are categorized according to the FBI’s standardized Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) guidelines for law enforcement agencies across the country. Reported crimes are tallied in ARJIS (Automated Regional Justice Information System) according to the date of data entry, which may or may not reflect the day of occurrence.
The statistics presented in this report include crime rates and numbers for San Diego County and individual jurisdictions for the first half of 2007. Comparisons are made to prior years. The number and type of crimes that are reported can be influenced by several factors, including the degree of opportunity to commit crimes in a given jurisdiction, which can be related to the amount of commercial land use and ease of access to the area. Crime statistics for January through December 2007 are expected to be available in April 2008.
More information is available at www.sandag.org/cj.
Project Manager:
Dr. Cynthia Burke, Director, Criminal Justice Research Division
Phone: (619) 699-1910, E-mail: cbu@sandag.org