Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials on Sunday released the countywide crime data for January, indicating Part I crimes — which include the more serious offenses like assault, robbery and murder — are down about 10% for the Santa Clarita Valley compared to the same time last year.
The data also indicates less serious Part II crimes, which include narcotics charges, weapons violations and lesser theft allegations, reported an increase of an almost identical percentage.
Data available online as part of Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s “Transparency Promise” reports that there were 259 Part I crimes reported for January 2020, and 232 reported for the same time in 2021, a decline of 10.4%. Part II crimes, like larceny, petty theft and vandalism — which are also traditionally associated with “quality of life issues,” went from 402 reports in 2020 to 444 reports for January 2021 — a 10.4% increase. The total numbers, including both categories: 660 reports in 2020, and 667 in 2021.
SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez noted Monday that station officials have had additional resources out in the field, which is what he credited to the continued decline in Part I crimes. These crimes are the bigger focus for law enforcement agencies, as that data is tracked and reported to the FBI for accountability and record-keeping.
While 2020 was another banner year for low crime in Santa Clarita, following record lows in 2018 and 2019, Diez said beating those numbers in 2021 was still the goal.
“I can tell you that we’ve put a lot of extra resources in the field,” Diez said, regarding the local effort to keep crime numbers low. “And that’s not only patrol, but that’s with special teams, and doing proactive police work. … And we can say trending down, but it’s pretty close to even with last year, just based on the resources that we’re putting out there.”
There were 898 Part I and Part II crimes reported for January 2018 (401 Part I); and 747 crimes (259 Part I) reported for the same period in 2019.
Diez also noted Sheriff’s Department officials use the data to strategically deploy resources in response to any trends they see, which they look for daily with the help of the station’s crime analysts.
A look at the Sheriff’s Department’s countywide crime data released after the first two weeks of January reported a 10% increase in total crimes (Part I and Part II) reported to the Santa Clarita Valley station over the same period the previous year.
