Santa Monica: safer than you thought

Over the past year, various high profile crime incidents in Santa Monica have caught the media’s attention, resulting in concern over the safety of the city when in reality crime rates have statistically dropped. According to the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD), Santa Monica has actually experienced a 15 percent decrease in serious crimes so far this year. On Oct. 7, SMPD Chief Cynthia Renaud, who entered office with the goal of reducing crime in Santa Monica, revealed that there have been about 655 fewer Part 1 crimes which include homocide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft. There have been 2.3 fewer of these crimes per day and a significant decline in car break in/assault cases. However, despite the decrease in most crime rates, arson has increased this year with SMPD having recorded 22 cases in 2019 and just nine the year before.  If this overall decline continues, 2019 could turn out to be the first year that serious crime has fallen in five years, having reached a low in 2014 and climbing 29 percent between 2015 and 2018. Santa Monica crime rates could also drop to finally match the decline in Los Angeles, where they experienced a similar reduction in every category for the first time in 50 years. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) credited the drop in 2018 to strategies implemented years prior to combat the crime typically more prominent in L.A., including stepped-up analysis of data and an expansion of the elite Metropolitan Division. A possible explanation for this movement in Santa Monica can be attributed to Chief Renaud’s coming of office in April of 2018. Upon becoming chief, she promised Santa Monica residents that she would dedicate her first year to reducing crime through community outreach. Renaud has taken several steps in keeping with her promises such as hiring 20 officers, after operating with a shortage of them as longtime officers retired, putting more of them on patrol, devoting more resources to problematic areas like Downtown Santa Monica and establishing a unit dedicated to tracking and responding to crime trends. SMPD spokesperson Lieutenant Candice Cobarrubias reported that the department has also put focus towards crime suppression strategies. Analysis of current crime tendencies (where and when) is used to then patrol the area heavily, going as far as deploying undercover officers and having non-sworn public safety and traffic services officers serve as an extra set of eyes.“People are less likely to commit crime if they feel there is a cop or police presence on every corner. The best metaphor I can think of is you have a bleeding wound, you saturate that wound with gauze, cover it and press on it until the bleeding stops. The same applies for crime prevention,” Cobarrubias said.Recent unrest at the Santa Monica pier, including a bear-repellent attack on Trump protestors and gunfire released during an attempted promenade-store robbery, has hit the media. Due to events such as these, the decreased crime rate in Santa Monica is often masked by the accumulating abundance of media crime coverage. Considering the decline, Renaud’s approach to reducing crime has seemed to work thus far. The chief still recommends staying cautious of one’s surroundings despite the tremendous decline in crime.“I preach this constantly, but I’ll take a moment to say it again now: please do not leave valuables in your cars, lock your homes when you leave and be diligent and aware of your purses, your backpacks and your bicycles when you’re out and about,” Renaud said to the Santa Monica Daily Press.