Costa Mesa sees crime dip 5% in 2002

Deepa Bharath

The city saw a significant decrease in crime in most categories in

2002 compared to the previous year, according to the FBI’s Uniform

Crime Report released on Monday.

The most impressive change was seen in the category of violent

crime, the report showed. Rape was down 50%, incidents of robbery

plummeted 37% and aggravated assaults dropped 30%.

The only category that saw a slight increase was thefts, up 1%.

But other property crimes were down -- burglary dropped 8% and auto

thefts, which had increased considerably in 2001, were down 13%, the

report showed.

The report does not include Newport Beach because it deals only

with cities with populations more than 100,000.

The numbers are in sharp contrast to 2001, when total crime in

Costa Mesa rose more than 16% and violent crimes, especially street

robberies, had increased.

Costa Mesa Police officials attributed the decline to targeted

enforcement. By the end of 2001, police had identified a sharp

increase in street robberies, Lt. Dale Birney said.

“We had started enforcement actions in that area by the start of

[last] year,” he said. “And we were able to have an impact and bring

down the number of crimes.”

The decrease of robberies also led to a decrease in assaults

because most robberies involve assaults and are therefore connected,

Birney said.

Nationwide, violent crime -- murder, rape, robbery and assault --

dropped 1.4% compared to 2001.

Former Costa Mesa Police Chief David Snowden, who retired from his

job on Friday, said the improvement in 2002 was a result of hard work

on the part of all of his officers.

“It was also because of the rapport the department had been able

to build with the community and the wonderful partnerships we had,”

he said.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].