The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department recently released the first-quarter crime numbers for the city, which had local data overall following a countywide trend of fewer Part-I incidents reported, amid a rise in aggravated assaults and a rate of sexual assaults that continues to raise concerns.
Overall, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station recorded 64 fewer Part-I crimes in the first three months of this year compared to last, with the single biggest reduction coming in grand theft auto, which saw 42 fewer incidents, a 33% reduction.
Countywide, Los Angeles County recorded a 13.8% reduction in Part-I crimes, while the SCV station saw a reduction of 6.75%, mostly in city limits.
Part-I crimes are tracked at the SCV Sheriff’s Station level, which also is used by the FBI to determine an area’s crime rate on a per-capita basis. These incidents include homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults in the “violent crime” category, and burglary, larceny theft, car theft and arson as “property crimes.”
Capt. Brandon Barclay, who was named head of the station in August, talked about the challenges in curbing crimes that law enforcement officials often need to be reactive to, such as aggravated assaults, and the successes the station has had in preventing future crimes, such as the recent arrest of a South American burglary crew suspected of being involved in multiple incidents.
Aggravated assaults
The only violent-crime category that saw an increase in the first quarter of 2026 was aggravated assault, which jumped significantly, based on LASD metrics, from 50 incidents in 2025 to 77.
Barclay said it can be difficult to prevent the myriad types of interpersonal violence that can be categorized as an aggravated assault with traditional crime-prevention strategies, but there are some ways and community partners that can help.
“I mean it’s very hard to prevent aggravated assaults. All we can do is encourage our community to have better conflict-resolution strategies when they’re in a verbal argument with their spouse, so that it doesn’t lead to domestic violence,” he said, referencing what he said was the most-common type of incident. “That if you’re involved in a road-rage banter, that you’re not escalating into violence, the pointing of a firearm, assaulting somebody,” he added.
In terms of what can be done, he said, “It’s working with our Child & Family Center, a collaborative partnership that we have to try to offer resources to folks, people that have been a victim of aggravated assault. They can reach out to our victims rights advocate, which is graciously provided by the District Attorney’s Office. And then the main thing is, we just encourage folks to have good emotional temperament.”
Barclay also said he liked to look at the numbers in context, as well. The SCV Sheriff’s Station has more than 275,000 people under its purview, he said, and in light of that, he considered 77 incidents reasonable for the three-month period.
“It’s not like we have this problem of aggravated assault, but we do track it,” he said.
Significant reductions
Barclay said “proactive policing” from deputies out in the field every day is what’s responsible for the reduction in property crimes, which saw big drops in the overall number of burglaries and grand theft auto incidents reported.
Burglaries dropped overall by more than 20% in a year-over-year comparison of the first three months.
He also mentioned efforts that he described as working in concert to help reduce thefts in the area.
“So immediately upon taking command, I took a proactive approach and started going to (homeowners association) meetings, from Westridge to Sand Canyon, and really did a deep dive into what the issue was,” he said.
It’s also been done as a station collaboration with the LASD Major Crimes Bureau’s task force for burglaries and robberies, he said. “And then, keep in mind, they’re all kind of hand-in-hand, because a lot of times these people are doing these crimes and these burglaries in stolen cars,” he said.
He also said when station deputies manage to arrest a team of thieves, which officials recently announced on social media, it can make a real dent in the numbers. The four suspects he mentioned were allegedly from a South American theft ring with outstanding warrants here and in Ventura.
The work done to catch car thieves also is done as a collaborative effort with the multi-agency Task Force for Regional Auto-theft Prevention, or TRAP, and using technological tools at their disposal, including plate-reading cameras.
Crime prevention
As part of his research into residential burglaries, Barclay said he also created a list of ways that property owners can conduct “home hardening” to help prevent them from becoming a victim.
Some require a bit of technical know-how, but most can be accomplished easy enough by contacting an internet service provider with any questions.
“It’s so important when you have your alarm system that you hard-wire it with ethernet cable to the router,” Barclay said.
One of the frequent ways that sophisticated burglary crews can attack your home is by blocking its internet signal. “If (the alarm system) is not running on WiFi, the WiFi jammer will not work.”
A backup is also an important security check, he said.
“It’s important to have backup, where, if the WiFi fails, then your alarm system, or your security system, can switch to cellular,” he said.
He also recommended property owners back up their security camera’s memory with an “SD card” or a physical hard drive, versus only relying on cloud storage.
He also said the home’s wireless router should use 5 gigaherz security, as the older 2.4-gigaherz models are much more susceptible to jammers.
And last but not least, he reminded residents that if they “see something, say something.” He mentioned a recent home that was targeted with a hidden camera that was placed on the property, within the landscaping, in order to track the owners’ whereabouts and target the home. If anyone sees someone looking suspicious or a suspicious item on their property, they are asked to call the Sheriff’s Station at 661-260-6000.
