The city of San Diego showed a 2.7% overall drop in crime in 2023, including a 13.5% decrease in homicide, officials said Tuesday.
According to the city, National Incident-Based Reporting System data "show an overall decrease in crime for the second consecutive year and keeping San Diego as one of the safest big cities in America."
There was an increase in hate crimes, according to the report, which also noted the following:
- Out of the 45 homicide cases, six were confirmed to be associated with gang activity, and five were connected to family/domestic violence
- Sexual assault decreased 16.2% in 2023
- Overall non-fatal shootings dropped by 23 cases, a 12% decrease compared to 2022;
- The violent crime rate of 4.4 per 1,000 residents is one of the lowest of major cities in the United States
- Hate crime reports increased from 38 cases in 2022 to 66 cases in 2023, with race accounting for 38% of the criminal acts in 2023, and religious bias accounting for 27%
- Crimes committed by gang members dropped 12%, while the number of documented gang members decreased by 20%
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"The men and women of the San Diego Police Department put on their uniforms every day with one goal in mind: keeping our communities safe," outgoing Police Chief David Nisleit said in a statement. "This is proven by the fact that San Diego remains one of the safest big cities in the nation year-over-year, despite continued staffing shortages. This is a testament to proactive police work to prevent crimes from happening and investigative tools that help us hold criminals accountable."
The San Diego Police Department now uses the NIBRS, as required by the FBI, the city said in a news release.
The NIBRS differs from the previous summary reporting method "by including more crime categories and allowing continuous reporting based on crime incident dates," officials said. "NIBRS provides a more comprehensive and dynamic understanding of crimes committed in our city."
Also this week, SDPD debuted a new crime dashboard that is updated daily. The site slices and dices the information in hundreds of different ways, giving a big-picture look at trends citywide during the past week, month quarter, year to date or last year, with a breakdown of offenses in the hundred areas in the City of 100 Neighborhoods.
