After crime rates have reached new historic lows year after year, the Newport Beach Police Department is pleased to announce that Part One crimes decreased again in 2014. The Part One designation is given to crimes that are considered to be the most serious, by nature and/or volume. Part One crimes include both violent crimes (such as Homicide, Rape, Robbery, and Aggravated Assault) and property crimes (Burglary, Larceny-Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft, and Arson). Overall, Part One crimes show a remarkable 11.9% decrease in 2014. Given the record-setting statistics of the last few years, results such as these are only possible through the continued diligent work of our Police Department personnel partnering with the community.
Newport Beach is one of the safest cities in the nation, with a very low volume of violent crime each year. Although 2014 showed a slight increase in this type of crime (six more than last year’s historic low of 84 incidents)[1], violent crime was still 26.8% below our five-year average.
Property Crimes decreased significantly in 2014, showing a reduction of 12.6% or 273 incidents. The largest decrease was in Larceny-Theft (which includes bike theft, mail theft, shoplifting, petty theft, grand theft, as well as burglaries and thefts from automobiles and boats), which had 169 fewer incidents than in 2013. Reductions in Residential Burglaries (down 46 incidents), Garage Burglaries (down 33 incidents) and Commercial Burglaries (down 17 incidents) make up the remaining significant decreases in this area.
The Newport Beach Police Department continually strives to balance available resources in order to maximize our impact on both crime trends and community needs. The specific causes behind increases and decreases in crime statistics can be difficult to pinpoint, but several factors contributed to the overall crime reduction in 2014. Our innovative “The Stolen Collection” advertising campaign increased public awareness of property crimes and crime prevention. In March, we implemented a new integrated Computer Aided Dispatching and Records Management System, allowing our dispatchers, field personnel, and investigators to work together more efficiently and effectively. Since Chief Johnson implemented the CrimeStat model in 2012, staff from all areas of the Department meet on a monthly basis to review activity and crime trends, maintaining the Chief’s focus on teamwork and accountability to address issues in a timely, direct manner. The addition of our Crime Suppression Unit has also allowed us the flexibility and dedicated resources to address issues proactively before they significantly impact the community.
Property crimes are a major focus of our enforcement and prevention strategies and we are certain that our partnership with the community plays a significant role in our ability to combat these types of crimes. In 2014, we expanded our community outreach through the use of social media, reaching more than 4,300 Facebook fans and nearly 5,300 Twitter followers throughout the year. We also increased to more than 5,900 Nixle users, dramatically improving direct communication with the community on time-sensitive and emergent issues. Our Neighborhood Watch program continues to flourish as residents strengthen relationships within their neighborhoods and with the Police Department. These tools allow us to work more closely with the people who visit, work, and live in Newport Beach. These citizens become our partners in crime prevention, reporting suspicious people and circumstances and remaining alert against emerging crime trends.
Chief Johnson stated, “Crime prevention is a team sport. It takes collaboration of all the stakeholders working together to combat the criminal element that attempts to prey upon our beautiful community. These stakeholders include the Newport Beach Police Department, our city government, our elected officials, and most importantly, our community members, businesses, and many visitors. Through collaboration and communication, I am proud to announce we have made incredible strides in crime reduction over the last few years, and we are committed to continuing these efforts in 2015.”
[1] These figures are based on a January 1, 2014 revision and broadening of the definition of Rape within the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting standards, which accounts for three of the additional Part One violent crimes reported in 2014.
