Homicide and rape were on the rise in 2013 in areas policed by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, but there’s been a sharp decline in other violent crimes.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has released preliminary FBI Part I crime statistics for 2013 for the period of January through October. As compared to that same period in 2012, the overall numbers show a decrease in violent crimes.
The January-October numbers, according to the sheriff’s department:
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2012 2013 Change
Homicides 33 55 +67%
Forcible Rape 107 118 +10.3%
Robbery 908 795 -12.4%
Aggravated Assaults 1,734 1,378 -20.5%
Burglary 8,793 7,969 -9.4%
Vehicle Theft 4,191 4,381 +4.5%
Larceny Theft 17,240 16,927 -1.8%
Arson 58 57
Violent Crimes Total
(homicide, rape, robbery,
aggravated assault) 2,782 2,346 -15.7%
Property Crimes Total
(burglary, vehicle theft,
larceny theft, arson) 30,282 29,334 -3.1%
All Crimes 33,064 31,680 -4.2%
Sheriff Stan Sniff cautioned that this information is for only the first 10 months of 2013, but the data trend “was very encouraging as the sheriff’s department impacts the majority of the county’s overall population.”
Sniff attributed the downward trend in crime numbers to slow but steady increases in patrol staffing in the unincorporated areas of the county as approved by the Board of Supervisors in late 2012.
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The sheriff’s department serves 17 of Riverside County’s 28 cities as well as the unincorporated areas of Riverside County. Altogether, the sheriff is responsible for policing nearly 1.4 million residents of the county’s population of nearly 2.3 million.
Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Temecula, Menifee, Canyon Lake, Perris and portions of Hemet, as well as all the unincorporated areas, are among the local jurisdictions covered by the sheriff’s department.
Crime statistics for November and December 2013 have yet to be released.
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