"I know that the figures are going to go up during the Christmas holiday season," said Capt. John Hirokawa of the West Valley Sheriff's Substation.

He said that he was worried about the complacency of local residents. "We are the fourth largest county in the state in terms of population," he said. "We are not on an island."

But it's more than just a numbers game. There is another area of growing concern that doesn't even factor into the figures. According to Hirokawa, ID thefts are on the rise.

"We don't even have a code for it," said Hirokawa. "The state does not recognize it as a top category crime. It is the highest growing crime category in the country."

Still, Mayor Kathleen King said that she needed to look at all the data for the year before she made up her mind about which way the crime graph in Saratoga was going. "We had less coverage this year, we reduced one officer, so there was less patrolling," she said. King said that the sluggish economy might have contributed to a rise in property thefts.

There were three robberies in the city this year, up from two last year. The two robberies included one at a Jamba Juice outlet and another at a jewelry store on Big Basin Way. The third was a carjacking that started in San Jose and ended in Saratoga.

Car thefts went up from 11 to 14 this year but aggravated assault or assault with a deadly weapon came down to 19 from 26. Vandalism cases are down to 51 from the 80 reported last year.

Sex crimes have gone up to seven from five last year. There have been 52 burglaries so far this year compared to 51 last year. Deputies say that a lot of home burglaries occur around Christmas and that figure might go up.

Auto burglaries went up to 38 from 30. Moving driving violations have gone up to 2,041 from 1,905. Speeding violations are down to 1,070 from 1,594 last year. Other driving violations rose to 2,100 from 1,679.

Hirokawa said that residents perceive Saratoga as a safe city and often leave their homes and cars unlocked. "They leave their $2,000 laptops in unlocked cars when they are picking up or dropping their children at school."

Grand thefts or thefts with a loss of substantial value increased to 54 from 46.

Domestic violence cases are down to 16 from 34 last year. "Christmas is a time when a lot of families get together and sometimes this can lead to fights. We are expecting that figure to go up as well," said Hirokawa.

He said that the local sheriff's station was service oriented and often goes out into the community to collect and write reports that other law enforcement agencies in neighboring cities might not.

Hirokawa said that the rise in property related crimes really bothered him. "Obviously the economy hasn't recovered and this leads to an increase in property crimes."

Jeff Johnson, vice president of the Saratoga Woods Forum, a neighborhood association, said that if it was up to him he would call for neighborhood watch officers. "We need someone who is in touch with the community and on top of the sheriff's reports," he said.

Johnson said that such a situation would enable neighborhoods to quash crime trends as they arise. "The best way to bring crime down is to bring awareness up."