The good news is that as of July 31, 2018 crime in Lake Forest is down. 2018 compared to 2017 shows a 1% decrease in Part 1 crimes (aka Serious Crimes). 2017 was down compared to 2015 and 2015 is down compared to 2012. Here are the numbers of total Part 1 crimes from 2012 to 2018 -
- 2012 – 1199
- 2013 – 919
- 2014 – 786
- 2015 – 1017
- 2016 – 856
- 2017 – 890
- 2018 – 551 (through July 31. 2017 comparable figure is 554).
Bear in mind that between 2012 and 2018 we’ve added thousands of people, so the crime per capita figures are even more impressive. In 2012 we had 15.5 Part 1 crimes per 1,000 residents while in 2017 the number was 10.48. That’s an incredible 32% decrease in 5 years, and the numbers for 2018 should be even more impressive.
Not only are we doing much better in terms of numbers of crimes and crimes per capita, our relative performance compared to other OCSD cities is also improving. In 2012 we had the worst record. We had the highest per capita crime rate for OCSD cities. But slowly we have been improving. In 2015 we were 7th out of 13 cities, in 2016 we were 3rd, and in 2017 we came in 5th. Lake Forest has never done so well.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
This data is even more amazing when you consider that Lake Forest is the most diverse city in South Orange County and that we have been experiencing more rapid population growth than the rest of the cities. Both these conditions (diversity and rapid growth) tend to be associated with higher crime rates.
Even more startling, the rise in population has resulted in a tremendous increase in our "Calls for Service". Since 2014 they have risen 29.4%, from 22,864 to 29,591 in 2017. Call for service require Police response, so you would expect as Calls go up, crime would too. But our crime numbers have been relatively stable even while Calls for Service have gone up.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Public Safety is the #1 concern for a City Council, so these dramatic improvements in numbers, rate, and ranking are very heartening.
What are we doing right? That will be the subject of our next article.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be Oct 18 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).
