Crime View For March 2009

Crime View meeting April 15, 2009 for the month of March, 2009.

Calls for service (1327)
January and February showed more calls for service for night shift. This flipped in March with more calls for service for the day shift by 151 more calls. The total for March was 1,327 total calls for day and night shift.

Traffic Bureau Statistics

Traffic Collisions (40)
February showed 38 collisions and March went above that figure by 2 for a total of 40. Compared to last year, we are are seeing a 11% decrease.
Traffic Fatalities (0)
None for February and March.
Motorist Passenger Injuries (14)
February there were 11. March there were 14. This increase still puts the year total below 30% from last year.
Pedestrian Injuries (1)
February there were 2 injuries while in March there was only 1. Compared to last year, the overall total for this year, 4, is double that of last year, 2.
Bicyclist Injuries (2)
Bicycle injuries goes up and down for no apparent reason. Last month there were none while this month there were 2.
Hit and Run Collisions (12)
The numbers here are up in this category from prior month and this year. In February, there were 7 while in March there were 12 an increase of about 71%. Compared to last year’s totals for the end of March, we have a 8% increase.
Parking Cites Issued (728)
Last month we reported that one of the city sweepers was not working. Traffic control vehicles follow the sweepers and cite vehicles that are parked in the path of the sweeper. Roadways are posted for no parking on street sweeping days. With one sweeper not working the cites has dropped by 33%, when compared to last year. The total for March was 728 citations.
Driving Under Influence (DUI) Collisions (2)
HBD Collisions (0)
Driving Under Influence (DUI) Arrests (9)
Prior month, February, there were 4 arrests. March the number went up to 9. When compared to 2008, the total for this year, 25, is the same.
30 Day Impounds Of Vehicles (85)
January there were 78, February there were 72 and March there were 85. In all of 2008 the monthly average was 37.

Crime Trends

Homicide (0)
Rape (0)
Robbery (4)
In January there were 3, none in February and March shows 4. Two robberies for March took place on thursday, one on Monday and one on Friday.
Aggravated Assault (1)
January shows 7 assaults, February had 4 and March showed only one.
Non-Aggravated Assault (11)
January had 16 assaults. February showed a spike with 24 and March was back down with 11 assaults recorded. Compared with last year at this time, the total, numbers are up about 24%.

Property Crimes

Residential Burglary (8)
In 2009 the monthly totals were 7 for January, 6 for February and 8 for March. It seems that the average for this year is near the average of 7. The year total compared with last year is -9%. The majority of residential burglaries occurred on Monday between 8 am and noon and 8 pm and midnight. The map pattern fails to show any pattern. One officer thinks he spotted the pattern that residential burglaries took place within one block of a major thoroughfare. This just might be a clever method for the burglar to fleet the crime site more quickly and not get trapped in complex housing track road ways.
Commercial Burglary (4)
January showed 5, February showed 5 but March it dropped a bit with 4. This is down by 50% from last year at this time. Commercial burglaries for the month of April took place most frequently on Monday, Thursday and Friday between 8 am and noon.
Vehicle Burglary (39)
This statistic shows a real problem for many of the Orange County police departments. January we measured 15 for Placentia. February shows 22. March is up to 39 reports. This is a definite rise month by month. Apparently the bad guys are looking into vehicles and if they see anything of interest, they smash the window and grab items like GPS units, cell phones, laptops and any other electronic device or item perceived of value. The majority of vehicular burglaries took place Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday between 4 pm to 8 pm. Map pattern show Chapman Ave between the 57 Freeway and Kraemer. Also areas around Atwood shows a cluster of vehicle burglaries.
Grand Theft (12)
January showed 13, February 16 and March had 12. Compared with last year the totals are up by 11 percent.
Petty Theft (20)
January is recored with 20 reports, February with 13 and March back up to 20. For the year the totals are up by 26 percent.
Vehicle Theft (5)
If you were to chart this the line would be pretty flat. January shows 6 reports, February with 7 and March down to 5. The year total compared to last year is -36% - quite good.