SD County Homicides Up 65%

Homicides in San Diego County increased sharply through the first half of the year, possibly due to gang activity, according to a midyear crime report released Friday that showed a 65 percent rise in killings.

Twenty more homicides were reported between January and June 2011 than during the same period last year, bringing the six-month tally to 51, according to the midyear crime report from the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). (Report is attached.)

Police found that about a quarter of the cases with a determinable motive (41 of the 51) were gang-related, up from the 18 percent of homicides attributed to gangs in 2010, according to the report.

The rise in homicides runs counter to an overall drop in the violent crime rate per 1,000 people in the county, which was at a 10-year low through the first six months of 2011.

"Overall, violent crime has continued its downward trend," said Cynthia Burke, SANDAG director of criminal justice research, in a statement. "The continuing decline of crime here is consistent with what is happening in the rest of the country."

In Rancho Bernardo, violent crime was up 25 percent during the first six months of this year, mostly due to an increase in armed robberies. "Violent crime" includes murder, rape, armed robbery, strong arm robbery and aggravated assault.

However, property crime in the region, and in RB, was down this year. The county rate for property crimes, such as car thefts and burglaries, was down 11 percent from 2010. In RB, there have been 14 percent fewer property crimes through June, with the largest decrease in non-residential burglaries.

*"Percent change" does not apply when the starting figure is zero.