Crime in Lake Forest - Part 2

Last time we looked at Part 1 crimes and today we’ll look at Part 2 crimes. Last time we found

• Despite dramatic increases in population and calls for service, Part 1 crimes in Lake Forest are near an all-time low, and remain relatively stable at this low level for the past 4 years.
• Not only are we doing much better on an absolute basis, on a relative basis we have improved. While Lake Forest once had one of the highest crime rates in South OC, now we consistently are among the lowest in crime rate.

Do we have a similar pattern for Part 2 crimes?

The following crimes have been going down steadily for the past 10 years –

• Vandalism (236 vs. 127)
• Sex crimes (27 vs. 20)
• Runaways (115 vs. 50)
• Embezzlement & Fraud (299 vs. 97)
• Stolen property (32 vs. 18)

The following crimes have been relatively stable

• Narcotics (535 vs. 397)
• DUI (173 vs. 198)
• Other assaults (375 vs. 324)
• Forgery & Counterfeiting (37 vs. 32)

The following crimes have been steadily increasing

• Weapons (39 vs. 73)
• Miscellaneous (174 vs. 266)

Miscellaneous offenses include bribery, polygamy, criminal anarchism, kidnapping, perjury, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of burglar tools, public nuisance, trespass, riot and rout, possession of obscene literature, etc.

Drunkenness showed a steady decline from 2008 to 2014 (18 vs. 3), and then a slow but steady increase from 2014 to 2017 (3 to 52).

Total Part 2 crimes showed a steady decline from 2008 to 2014 (2358 vs. 1535), and then a slow but steady increase from 2014 to 2017 (1535 vs. 1839). Most of this increase was due to increases in drunkenness, weapons offenses and miscellaneous offenses. We are now at the level we were at in 2013, which had been an all-time low.

For both Part 1 and Part 2 crimes, 2014 was our best year. For both Part 1 and Part 2 crimes, we had a slow and steady decrease in crimes until 2014, and then a slight uptick since 2014, but we are still at levels never seen before. This low crime numbers has been achieved despite dramatic increases in population and increases in diversity.

So far in 2018 we are below last year, so that's good news.

Next time we'll look at some of the possible reasons.

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).