Crime & Safety
Crime in Lake Forest - Comparative Figures
On a percent basis, we do poorly compared to the rest of the County
In case you don’t subscribe to the OC Register (who does, anymore) you may have missed the front page article about crime in Orange County.
Last week I reported about crime in Lake Forest and the results of a survey that showed that Lake Forest was less safe than most of our neighbors. Some people, especially Councilmen Robinson, Hamilton, and Voigts, along with the Police Chief and the City Manager, don’t like hearing this, and neither do I. But facts are facts.
This latest report shows that overall crime in Orange County was up in 2015, an average of 23%. But Lake Forest was up 29%. We weren’t the worst in the County – RSM (51%), Garden Grove (45%), Fountain Valley (41%), and Costa Mesa (33%) had even greater increases. But coming in tied for 30 out of 34 is not a distinction I was looking for.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
While our increase in violent crimes of +4% was low, some of our neighbors had decreases - Laguna Beach (-39%), Laguna Niguel (-33%), Dana Point (-20%), Laguna Woods (-17%), Aliso Viejo (-9%), Newport Beach (-5%), and Laguna Hills (-4%).
Putting aside the percent changes, Lake Forest had 108 violent crimes. It's only a 4% increase but it's 108 violent crimes. RSM has slightly fewer people but only 44 violent crimes. MV has slightly more people but even fewer violent crimes - 86. Irvine has 3 times as many people but only 144 violent crimes. This is not good.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Until we stop pretending that we are “one of the safest cities in the U.S.” we will continue to have higher crime rates than our neighbors.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out onLinkedIn 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 mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on April 9 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.
