The city of Poway saw a 14 percent decrease in crime the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Automated Regional Justice Information System.
From January 2018 to June 2018, there were 272 crimes reported compared to 315 last year, according to ARJIS.
The decrease was attributed to the collaborative efforts between the community, the city and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, Lt. Christopher Collier said.
“Our crime prevention unit and our deputies are constantly working on developing relationships with our residents and business owners,” he said. “We always encourage our community members to report suspicious activity and if they ‘see something, say something.’”
Poway does not have its own police force and contracts its law enforcement out to the sheriff’s department.
The most significant decrease was in the number of burglaries in the city. There were 50 burglaries this year compared to 76 last year, a decrease of 34 percent.
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Car thefts were also down 28 percent, with 18 cars reported stolen this year compared to 25 last year.
“Poway remains one of the safest cities in all of San Diego County, and we are all very proud of that,” Collier said.
For comparison, Santee, which has roughly the same number of residents, saw 476 crimes reported in its city limit the first six months of this year, according to ARJIS.
While the overall number of crimes in Poway has gone down, the number of rapes and murders in the city has gone up the first six months of this year.
There were four reported rapes and one murder in Poway this year compared to one rape and zero murders last year, according to ARJIS.
“Unfortunately we, not unlike other cities, occasionally see tragic increases in specific crime types,” Collier said. “We work very hard to address these in order to make every effort to prevent future occurrences.”
Overall, Poway crime rate remains relatively flat, with the exception of last year. There was a spike in crimes in 2017 compared to the past four years. In 2015, there 272 crimes reported and 248 in 2016.
