The city of Santa Clarita is convening a meeting Friday morning of the Santa Clarita City Council Public Safety Committee, which is expected to discuss “an update on local public safety, including crime rates and trends,” according to a notice posted Thursday morning.
There are two members of the committee from the City Council, Councilman Jason Gibbs and Mayor Pro Tem Bill Miranda.
The updates are usually provided by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez and provide an opportunity for council members to ask questions or share concerns about public safety.
At the last meeting in June, Diez answered council members’ concerns about rising crime numbers, how policies from the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office could impact those numbers and deputy morale in light of staffing shortages.
The numbers for August weren’t available yet, but the year-over-year comparison for the first seven months of this year compared to last indicated there was an 8% increase in Part-1 crimes within city limits, and down almost 1% in the unincorporated areas.
Those crimes include violent and property crimes, from rape and murder to grand theft auto and larceny.
Most violent crimes were down in the SCV — almost 1% in the city; 11% in the county and nearly 3% overall — including murder, rape and robbery.
Aggravated assaults in the city and robberies in the unincorporated areas increased over the same time period last year, and burglaries were up in both the city and unincorporated areas.
Diez said previously a lot of those incidents were tied to domestic violence, which is an area where the station has seen an increase in reports.
Property crimes accounted for most Part-1 crimes reported, with 2,307 crimes total from Jan. 1 to Aug. 1, and 2,044 of them being burglaries, larceny thefts or grand theft auto.
