Homicides Up, Overall Crime Down in SD

Midyear homicide numbers up by 65 percent

Though the overall crime rate has dropped around San Diego County, officials are reporting a rise in the number of homicides in the first half of the year compared last year.

A report released by the San Diego Association of Governments said that throughout the county there were 51 homicides reported between January and June 2011, compared to only 31 in the same period in 2010.

As homicide reports grew in numbers, violent and property crimes rates per 1,000 people in the region were both at 10-year lows, down 8 percent in 2011, according to SANDAG.

Officials reported a decrease in four areas including rape, robbery, aggravated assault and mid-year property crime, which was down 11 percent from 2010. A total of 30,998 property crimes were reported to local law enforcement agencies in the first half of 2011.

Larcenies dropped by 8 percent, burglaries saw numbers go down by 13 percent, and vehicle thefts plummeted by 19 percent, according to the report.

Officials said the number of robberies declined for the fourth consecutive year, going from 1,679 in the first half of 2010 to 1,445 in the first half of 2011.

“Overall, violent crime has continued its downward trend,” SANDAG director of Criminal Justice Research Dr. Cynthia Burke said in media release. “The continuing decline of crime here is consistent with what is happening in the rest of the country.”

While the majority of the county had an overall decrease in crime, some areas experienced a spike from last year. Del Mar, 4S Ranch and Alpine all had increased rates.

Del Mar leads the pack with a 61 percent increase from last year and 4S Ranch was up 49 percent. Alpine experienced a slight increase at 5 percent.

The county's drop in reported crimes was indeed seen around the nation.

On Friday, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported there were 3.8 million violent crimes last year, which was down from 4.3 million in 2009.

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