Police report: Violent crime down
Laguna Beach police released its yearly report Wednesday, which indicated that violent crime has gone down 9% while theft-related crimes have risen 11% compared with the five-year average.
Violent crimes include homicide, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
There were six reports of forcible rape in 2011, compared with five in 2010 and 11 in 2009. The previous five-year average was 8.
Robbery reports went down from 8 in 2010 to 6 last year, and 50 aggravated assaults were reported, which was two below the average and 15 less than 2010.
While 2011 vehicle thefts were below average with 24 reports, they were up from 13 reported in 2010.
There was only one report of arson last year, same as 2010.
Larceny saw a 20% increase, with 466 reports compared with an average of 387. There were 379 reported in 2010.
Police said the increase was most likely due to thefts from unlocked vehicles, which account for 41% of larceny cases. Police also said it is not uncommon to have one individual as a suspect in multiple theft cases.
Burglary saw an 8% decrease compared with the average. However, there were 82 reports in 2010 and 117 last year.
Patrol activity increased 7%, according to the report. Misdemeanor arrests saw a 24% increase, felony arrests increased 7%, public intoxication arrests went up 16% and traffic stops increased 17%.
DUI arrests increased 52% with 13,192 in 2011, compared with the average of 11,113. Police said this could be due to a California Office of Traffic Safety DUI grant the department received.
Narcotics and weapons crimes went down 18%.
Twitter: @joannaclay