CRIME JUMPS 17 PERCENT HOMICIDES, AUTO THEFTS LEAD THE WAY.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - Crime in the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. rose by 17 percent in 2001 compared with the previous year with homicide, auto theft and larceny larceny, in law, the unlawful taking and carrying away of the property of another, with intent to deprive the owner of its use or to appropriate it to the use of the perpetrator or of someone else. leading the increases, sheriff's officials said. Within the city limits, crime increased by 18 percent with property offenses jumping double digits Double Digits was a pricing game on the American television game show, The Price Is Right. Played from April 20, 1973 through May 18, 1973's show, it was played for a car and used small prizes. . The good news was that most violent crime - rape, robbery and assault - showed small declines within the city of Santa Clarita. ``If we see a dip, that is a good indicator of how good the city really is,'' said Lt. Tim Peters Tim Peters may refer to:
Santa Clarita consistently ranks among the top five safest cities in the country. In the areas outside city limits, crimes showed a 15 percent increase with all major crimes on the rise except aggravated assault A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another or causes such injury purposely, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; or attempts to cause or purposely or . Officials said that the rises in county areas are directly attributed to the valley's growth. ``Our population growth is greatest in the unincorporated county areas,'' Peters said. ``You have a lot more people reporting crimes.'' Auto thefts showed the biggest increase throughout the valley, with investigators blaming car thieves from out of the area. ``We had a theory that they were all being committed along the freeway areas,'' Peters said. ``But we see no pattern. It's valleywide.'' A series of auto burglaries reported early last year was one of the main reasons for the spike in the crime rate, officials said. Several arrests were made by special enforcement units. ``We look at specific patterns in crimes,'' Peters said. ``We really try and do some targeting in certain areas.'' Among the specialized teams that made real impacts last year were the COPS and Career Offender Burglary Robbery Apprehension teams that worked surveillance, targeting auto burglaries in the Stevenson Ranch Stevenson Ranch, California (in the 91381 ZIP Code) is a Los Angeles County, USA, unincorporated community west of Santa Clarita a few miles south of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. The Stevenson Ranch fountain was redone in 2007. area. The Community Interaction Team investigated robberies along the city's bike paths. Larceny and burglary showed increases, but there were no patterns to link cases and target a suspect. ``We looked at it and we didn't see any specific series or suspect that we could target,'' Peters said of residential burglaries. ``If we don't see a similar MO, it's hard for us to target.'' Sheriff's officials investigated the thefts of cell phones and believed that some lost phones were being reported stolen so that residents could file claims with their insurance companies. Peters added that the best way to decrease property crimes is for residents to simply lock their doors and windows Doors and Windows is a multimedia disk by the Irish band The Cranberries. Track listing
Homicides showed the largest percentage increase because there typically are few in the Santa Clarita Valley. Last year, there were seven people killed valleywide, including sheriff's Deputy Hagop ``Jake'' Kuredjian, gunned down in Stevenson Ranch while backing up federal officials serving a warrant. ``The homicides are always sad cases,'' said Peters. ``Homicides are horrible. They don't occur that often.'' Rapes also showed an increase over the year outside city limits with teen-agers accounting for most of the victims. CAPTION(S): chart Chart: CRIME IS UP SOURCE: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This article is about the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, not to be confused with the smaller Los Angeles County Police The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a local law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. |
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