Encinitas Violent Crime Down but Property Crime Up, Says New SANDAG Study

Encinitas seen a drop in violent crime, but property crime increased, according to a report recently released by the San Diego Association of Governments.

Between 2007 and 2011, the number of violent crimes in Encinitas dropped 12 percent. In 2011, Encinitas had 140 reports of violent crime, which include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Encinitas also has one of the county’s lowest rates of violent crime. In 2011 the violent crime rate was 2.15 per 1,000 people. The only communities with lower violent crime rates that year were Carlsbad, Coronado, Poway and 4S Ranch.

Though violent crimes were down, property crimes increased in Encinitas over the last year. Property crimes saw a 10 percent increase over the last year, growing from 947 in 2010 to 1,037 in 2011. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. 

Despite the recent spike, the rate of property crime in Encinitas still below the county average. In 2011 the property crime rate in Encinitas was 15.91 per 1,000 people—and the county average was 20.19 per 1,000 people.

Areas patrolled by the county Sheriff’s Department —17 jurisdictions including Encinitas—saw property crime rates fall 21 percent between 2007 and 2011, the report said.

SANDAG summarized key findings for the county:

• In 2011, the violent and property crime rates in the San Diego region continued to decrease overall, except for an increase in the number of homicides, which jumped 22 percent from 67 to 82. In addition, while property crime was down, some types of larcenies did increase in number compared to 2010 and there were increases in all three property crime categories in the last three months of 2011, compared to the prior year.
• In 2011, both the violent and property crime rates for the San Diego region decreased and were again at new 30-year lows (3.41 and 20.19, respectively, per 1,000 residents).
• There were 82 homicides in the San Diego region in 2011, a 22 percent increase from 2010. For cases where motive could be determined, there was an increase in the number attributed to domestic violence.
• The number of robberies decreased 9 percent from 2010, the greatest drop in the violent crime category.
• Bank robberies, which had spiked in 2010, were down 36 percent, possibly reflecting successful collaboration between federal and local law enforcement to address this issue.
• While residential burglaries were down 8 percent from 2010, nonresidential burglaries were down less than 1 percent.
• Although the number of larcenies was down overall in 2011, there were more thefts of bicycles, from buildings and other locations reported in 2011. Motor vehicle theft continued to decrease in 2011, down 10 percent from 2010, with drops reported by 82 percent of the jurisdictions.
• Despite the continued annual decreases in crime, there were increases in all three property crime categories during the last quarter of the year, a trend which will continue to be monitored.

The report noted the state’s shift of inmates from prisons to county jails and the release of certain nonviolent offenders.

“According to statistics from the San Diego County Probation Department, 948 post-release offenders were released to San Diego County during the last three months of 2011, with 820 of these individuals reporting for supervision,” SANDAG said.

Given the release of these so-called PROs starting in October 2011, “combined with the increase in reported property crime in some jurisdictions across California,” SANDAG did added analysis—comparing the number of violent and property crimes reported in the first nine months of 2011 to the same time period in 2010, and the last three months of 2011 to those months in 2010.

“While the number of violent crimes was down for the first three quarters (6%) and the last quarter (4%), this was not the case for property crime, with a decrease of 7 percent between January and September 2011 (compared to 2010), but an increase of 6 percent for October through December (compared to 2010),” the report said.

But SANDAG said it was too early to read too much into this spike at the end of 2011.

“It is important to acknowledge that these data only represent three months of time and that numerous factors could be related to these recent increases.”