The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has released its official crime numbers for 2023 on its Transparency Promise website, which reflects the increases in crime that law enforcement officials have been discussing publicly for months.
Robberies within city limits rose by nearly 40% last year, with 89 reports in 2022, and 124 — an average of about one every three days — being reported in 2023. In the unincorporated areas, the number of incidents declined from 20 to 15 over the same time period.
While The Signal recently reported on six homicides reported in the Santa Clarita Valley last year, that wasn’t the only statistical area where Part-I crimes increased. These figures are used by the FBI to determine an area’s crime rate.
SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez was not immediately available Wednesday to discuss the numbers.
For all of Los Angeles County, Part-I crimes, which include violent crimes, such as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, as well as property crimes, such as burglary, grand theft auto and arson, the overall crime rate has risen by just under 2%.
That’s reflected in a 1.48% reduction in violent crime, offset by a nearly 3% increase in property crime.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, the increase in total Part-I crimes was 9.74%, which came from a 6.26% increase in violent crimes, and a 10.23% increase in property crimes. The numbers for just the city indicate a 10.72% increase overall in Part-I crimes and a 6.38% increase for the unincorporated areas.
The most frequent crime, larceny theft, which the FBI defines as “the unlawful taking, carrying or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another,” saw a nearly 7% increase in incidents in the city, an increase from 1,687 to 1,804, an average of nearly five reports per day. In the unincorporated county areas, that figure stayed roughly the same, with 521 in 2022 and 516 in 2023.
The data for burglaries and grand theft auto also saw hefty increases in both the city and the unincorporated areas. Â
There were 68 more burglaries within city limits, for a nearly 19% increase, and 21 in the unincorporated areas, which represented a 21.43% increase. For car theft, there were 62 more incidents for a nearly 20% increase in 2023 in the city, and 31 more, for a nearly 31% increase in unincorporated areas.
The number of aggravated assaults also slightly declined in the city and remained the same in county territory: There were four fewer last year, for a total of 226 in the city and 60 in both 2022 and 2023 in the unincorporated areas of the SCV.
The number of arsons also saw a dramatic spike, with the SCV station receiving 12 reports in 2022 and 24 reports in 2023 in the city. The unincorporated areas similarly saw an anomalistic spike when compared to other data. There were seven reports in the unincorporated areas in 2022 and 13 in 2023.
Countywide, the data indicates the Sheriff’s Department saw: a 9.23% increase in criminal homicide; a 2.57% reduction in rape; a 3.42% increase in robberies and the exact same percentage of decrease for the number of aggravated assaults. Â
Click here to download the LASD spreadsheet for SCV crime data.
