Crime has increased in Santa Monica for the third consecutive year driven by thefts and petty assaults according to Santa Monica Police Chief Ramon Batista who presented the annual report at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
To better understand the results, criminal behavior is broken down into two categories, Part I crimes, which are serious offenses like violent assault, robbery and burglary and Part II crimes, which are typically lesser offenses involving property and misdemeanors.
Part I crimes increased by 129 calls or 2.7%. While the category includes some of the most serious charges such as murder, rape and aggravated assault, thefts accounted for 59% of all Part 1 incidents.
Car theft has been a rising trend locally, as it has nationally. Hyundai is the most stolen car for the past five years followed by Toyota but Kia thefts have spiked in the past two years.
Part II crimes, led by simple assaults, vandalism, narcotics-related incidents, public intoxication and fraud increased by 7%. While fraud crimes were relatively low in number (241) the category had the largest percentage increase of 16.6%. Simple assault, which results in minor or no injuries, accounted for the largest share of Part II crimes at 859, a 15% increase from last year.
The number of arrests increased by 12% (totaling 2,723) and while that figure is still, thankfully, a far cry from the 2019 figures (3,840), it has steadily increased since 2020.
As has been the trend for several years, about two-thirds of the city’s arrests are of homeless individuals. Homeless arrest numbers are up to 1,839, making up 67.6% of the total number of 2,723 arrests (an 11% increase compared to last year). In 2022, the total number of arrests was 2,438 and the unhoused percentage of that was 66.9%, a total of 1,632.
According to SMPD, the department’s dedicated homeless liaison program cleared 381 encampments last year, issued 226 citations and made 1,308 referrals for services.
But perhaps most alarmingly, is that more firearms are being found by police.
"I was just talking to two patrol officers today and what they noticed is that they’re finding more handguns, more guns in people’s cars, more ghost guns, guns that have had the serial number removed. And they’re out there floating around in our city," Batista said, adding, "I have to say though, more often than not, these are not residents of Santa Monica, that they [officers] were coming into contact with."
Furthermore, some of these weapons are ending up in the hands of the homeless. The recent Sunset Park shooting is a perfect example. "The officers are seeing that they’re running into a lot more either facsimiles of guns or real guns in their contact with the unhoused," Batista said.
Councilmember Oscar de la Torre asked Chief Batista to expand a little more on how guns are being found during traffic stops.
"The department has always trained very carefully, on making sure that there is a respectful engagement between our officers and the people that we stop," Batista said. "[Last] year, there was a new law … that makes it so that when an officer approaches the car, the first thing he or she does is inform the person what they’re being stopped for. And so that right away, puts it right out there as to why we’re making the stop … So it’s coming about through that, an investigative stop after a legitimate traffic stop for some type of traffic violation."
