Modesto sees mixed crime numbers for 2014

The FBI reported Monday that the nation’s crime rate decreased last year, with violent crime falling 0.2 percent and property crime falling 4.3 percent, compared with 2013. The federal agency said property crime has fallen every year for the past 12 years.

The picture was mixed for Modesto. The FBI reported violent crime – including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – increased 4.3 percent, with 1,778 offenses committed in 2014 compared with 1,704 in 2013. But Modesto saw its property crimes plummet 8.8 percent, with 9,113 offenses in 2014 compared with 9,989 in 2013. Property crimes include burglaries, thefts and auto thefts.

The FBI released these and other crime statistics in the 2014 edition of its annual Crime in the United States report.

A deeper look at the numbers shows violent crime has increased every year over the past five years in Modesto, from 1,398 offenses in 2010 to 1,778 last year. The property crime numbers have bounced around over the five years, from a low of 8,894 offenses in 2011 to 11,276 offenses in 2012 and 9,113 offenses in 2014.

Police Chief Galen Carroll said crime is up this year in Modesto.

He said the crimes tracked by the FBI in its report are up about 10 percent in Modesto this year compared with last year. He said violent crime is up about 13 percent – driven in large part by shoplifters who fight with security guards, escalating the crime to robbery – and property crime is up about 9 percent, driven primarily by a spike in auto thefts.

He said his department was doing well in fighting crime because of the initiatives it had rolled out – including dividing the city into four areas so officers work more closely with the community, and the use of predictive policing software that pinpoints where crimes are expected – but was hit hard over the past year by a wave of officers retiring or leaving for better-paying Bay Area agencies and by passage of Proposition 47.

The City Council approved pay raises totaling 6 percent and one-time incentive pay in February in an effort to keep and recruit officers. The Police Department is budgeted for 209 sworn officers, but Carroll said that over the summer the number of working officers fell to about 168.

He said the Police Department now has two vacancies. The filled positions include 24 new officers undergoing field training in which they are paired with a veteran officer, nine recruits slated to start academy training and five people with conditional job offers.

Proposition 47 was passed by California’s voters in November and turns most drug possession crimes and property crimes in which the value of the property does not exceed $950 into misdemeanors. Carroll said his department saw crime increase a month after the proposition’s passage.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Modesto sees mixed crime numbers for 2014."