Pico violence still a focus despite low crime levels
SMPD HDQTRS. — Crime in Santa Monica is the lowest it’s been in 43 years, statistics released Wednesday show.
In 2003, serious crimes decreased 4 percent over the previous year, also a record low year, Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts, Jr., said.
“It’s like it’s back in 1960,” he said. “Most cities are happy if they get to 1980s or 1979 levels and very few, if any, cities have posted 60 to 70 percent decreases in the last decade. That’s off the charts.”
Last year, the SMPD received 4,501 reports of Part 1 crimes, which are the most serious. In 1993, when crime was at an all-time high, there were 10,891 reports of serious crime.
“This year’s decrease comes on the heels of nine years of crime dropping in the city,” Butts said, adding last year was only 70 crimes higher than what was reported in 1960.
“This year’s decrease comes on the heels of nine years of crime dropping in the city.” — — JAMES T. BUTTS, JR. Chief, SMPD
Violent crime — murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — fell 14 percent in 2003 and 62 percent over the last decade. Crime has declined in nine of the last 10 years, and seven years consecutively. In the 38 years prior to 1994, crime fell only two years in a row on three occasions. In the last 47 years, crime has decreased only in 19 years.
Santa Monica’s decrease in crime is particularly noteworthy given that crime rose statewide by 2.3 percent for the first nine months of 2003, Butts said. He added that the state saw a property crime increase of 4.7 percent in the first nine months of 2003, yet Santa Monica’s property crimes continue to drop. Property crime here reached 1950s levels, falling 58 percent from their 1993 high of 9,446 incidents to 3,946 incidents in 2003.
The overall crime today in Santa Monica has fallen 59 percent in the last decade. The most substantial drop was a 75 percent decrease in homicides — there was only one last year, compared to eight the year before. But compared with 1956, it has dropped 78 percent. The lowest six years of homicides on record have occurred between 1996 and 2003. Prior to 1996, the least number of murders committed in a year in Santa Monica was six, with the record being 17 in 1980.
Violent crime in Santa Monica has dropped 62 percent since 1993. Incidences of robberies are down 66 percent and rape is down 57 percent. Property crimes are down 58 percent collectively — led by auto theft, which is down 74 percent and larcenies down 56 percent.
Burglaries are down 47 percent and seven the of the lowest eight years on record for burglary have been recorded consecutively in the last seven years. The eighth lowest year occurred in 1956 — however from 1998 to 2001 burglary was lower than 1956 (see chart).
Butts said he’s amazed that crime has reached levels from four decades ago, especially because there were less than half the amount of people living here then — let alone visiting here. Tourist and other visitations are currently at record levels, with as many as 300,000 people coming to Santa Monica in one day.
“The reality is that we serve a population large enough to be considered a metropolis,” Butts said. But Santa Monica, which has close to 90,000 residents, isn’t considered a major city because it doesn’t reach the mandated population of 100,000. As a result, Santa Monica isn’t included in major city crime comparisons.
Butts attributes the low crime rates to several factors, but particularly because the SMPD rid the city of rampant drug dealing in Palisades Park in the early to mid-1990s, when he became police chief.
“It’s no coincidence that when we had high crime there was an open air drug market in Palisades Park,” Butts said, adding cities that are predisposed to drug activity have more criminals in them.
Butts also suggested that because the SMPD has what are called “community livability” goals that are identified every year, crime in those areas are reduced. One year, auto thefts had increased, so the SMPD focused on reducing that crime, and it was successful. The goals are based on quality of life issues for residents.
This past year, the goals were robbery suppression with an emphasis on street robberies; pursuing parolees with an emphasis on tracking and supervision; traffic safety with an emphasis on pedestrian safety and instituting a new “neighborhood-centered policing” program that puts high-ranking officers directly in touch with residents, said SMPD Lt. and spokesman Frank Fabrega.
Technology and establishing a better tie with the community is what has helped drive down crime levels, Butts said.
“It’s the closeness of the community with residents and police, and computer technology that can help us pinpoint crime, analyze trends and mobilize effectively,” he said. “Before, information was contained in the station but now police units are mobile offices.”
He added that the SMPD has made great strides in reaching out to the community, which is proven by the record low of citizen complaints against the police department this year — 43, compared to more than 100 in 1992, when Butts changed the policy on how complaints were logged. At the time, the watch commander, who works closely with officers, had the discretion of whether to log the complaint. But Butts changed that so all complaints go directly to the internal affairs department.
“The message that has been sent by this community and this police department is that we intend to make Santa Monica one of the safest communities in the United States and we are on our way,” Butts said.
And despite the fact that incidents of drive-by shootings and stray bullets were commonplace last year in the Pico neighborhood — located on the eastside of town and the site of the year’s only homicide — crime is still down there. Police responded to close to a dozen shots fired calls, most believed to be gang related. In some cases, people were struck by bullets, but no one was seriously injured.
“Historically, violence in Pico is down over the last 10 to 12 years,” Butts said, adding that the eight square blocks the neighborhood encompasses is the most patrolled in the city. “We are steadily making inroads in getting people engaged in anti-social behavior off the streets.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 22, 2004. Read the original PDF.