Crime on the Rise for Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Serviced Areas

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department released statistical crime data for the first six months of 2016, officials said. This data includes information collected for FBI Part 1 crimes, these crimes include; murder and nonnegligent homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, vehicle theft, larceny-theft and arson. The data showed an increase of 4% in these crimes for the first half of 2016.

The Riverside Sheriff’s Department services 17 of the 28 cities in the county as well as criminal investigations in unincorporated areas. With Riverside County being the 4th largest population for the 58 California counties and the 10th in the United States, over 1.6 million calls are received by dispatchers on a yearly basis. This covers well over half of the counties over 2.3 million population. More than 900,000 calls for service are dispatched with around ⅓ being “in-progress” calls.

The preliminary numbers show a significant increase in nearly all types of crimes in the Sheriff’s Department covered areas; both unincorporated areas and city areas. Violent crimes as a whole have increased by 14.1%, while property crimes 3.1%, in the Sheriff’s covered areas of Riverside County. Homicides have nearly doubled, according to the news release, with 14 in 2015 to 27 this year. Robberies have increased by 19% and aggravated assaults by 11.4%. Auto thefts also have reported an increase to over 18%.

In the unincorporated areas alone, violent crime decreased nearly 4%, while property crime increased nearly the same. FBI Part 1 Crimes remain up by nearly 3% for unincorporated areas of Riverside County. The impact on these part 1 crime numbers was by large the over 22% increase in robberies and nearly 10% increase in larceny-theft (theft of personal property).

The patrol staffing for unincorporated Riverside County is 1.04 sworn staff per 1000 population. This is paid for by discretionary funds established each year by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Table I: 2016 Overall Crime Data in the Sheriff’s Areas (preliminary, Jan – June):
	2015	2016	%
FBI Violent Crime:	1,455	1,660	+14.1%
FBI Property Crime:	17,159	17,694	+3.1%
All Part I Crime	18,614	19,354	+4%

Homicides	14	27	+93%
Forcible Rapes	69	70	+1.5%
Robbery	457	544	+19%
Aggravated Assaults	915	1,019	+11.4%
Burglary	3,328	3,150	-5.4%
Vehicle Theft	2,674	3,154	+18%
Larceny Theft	11,125	11,357	+2.1%

Table II: 2016 Overall Crime Data in just the unincorporated areas alone (preliminary, Jan – June):
	2015	2016	%
FBI Violent Crime:	431	414	-3.9%
FBI Property Crime:	3,715	3,853	+3.7%
All Part I Crime	4,146	4,267	+2.9%

Homicides	5	10	+100%
Forcible Rapes	24	26	+8.3%
Robbery	77	94	+22.1%
Aggravated Assaults	325	284	-12.6%
Burglary	930	872	-6.2%
Vehicle Theft	663	653	-1.5%
Larceny Theft	2,110	2,317	+9.8%

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