Saratoga News
News
Numbers for some crimes may be up in saratoga, but most are down
Numbers on Santa Clara website are 'incorrect'
By Jason Sweeney
Crime is up in Saratoga. Or it is down. It just depends on where you look.
While some crimes are up and others are down, the overall crime rate for Saratoga remained flat from 2004 to 2005.
A quick Google search for crime statistics in Santa Clara County produces a chart on the Santa Clara Police Department website that shows crime is up in Saratoga by 35.8 percent from 2004 to 2005. But crime numbers submitted by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department to the California Department of Justice show there were four fewer crimes reported in Saratoga in 2005 compared to 2004.
Michele Wilson, law enforcement records supervisor for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, said, "Those numbers on the Santa Clara Police Department website are incorrect for Saratoga."
Crime numbers for 2004 and 2005 supplied by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department show there were 376 crimes reported in Saratoga in 2005 compared to 380 for 2004.
Reported crimes in Saratoga for 2005 include one homicide, three rapes, two robberies, 57 assaults, 98 burglaries, 205 larceny thefts and 10 auto thefts.
The numbers for 2004 were zero homicides, two rapes, four robberies, 44 assaults, 106 burglaries, 211 larceny thefts and 13 auto thefts.
"Saratoga is, for the most part, a safe city," said Capt. John Hirokawa of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department.
The numbers bear that out when compared to other cities in the county. Saratoga has a crime rate of 1,143 per 100,000 people for 2005. That rate is one of the lowest in the county, with only Los Altos and Los Altos Hills having slightly lower rates.
The California Department of Justice takes crime numbers from all over the state and submits them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI then compiles a Uniform Crime Report for the nation. Hirokawa said crime numbers for Saratoga may change when the FBI releases its report. This is due to differences in the way the agency interprets the numbers. Where the sheriff's office reports all assaults for Saratoga, the FBI is concerned only with aggravated assaults in which a weapon was used or where medical attention was needed, Hirokawa explained. Although there were 57 total assaults reported in Saratoga in 2005, only 13 were aggravated assaults.
"These numbers can be deceiving," Hirokawa said. "For example, homicide is up 100 percent. But murder is rare in Saratoga. In this case, it was a domestic violence issue."
The one homicide in Saratoga in 2005 was of Birk McCandless, who was stabbed to death, allegedly by his ex-girlfriend, Nan Yang, at his Saratoga Oaks townhouse on March 15, 2005.
"Residential burglaries were up in 2005, auto burglaries are up, but commercial burglaries are down," Hirokawa said. The drop in commercial burglaries has lowered the overall number but the rise in residential and auto burglaries is of concern to the sheriff's office.
An auto burglary is defined as a forcible entry into a locked automobile to steal items inside, whereas an auto theft is when the car itself is stolen. But, if someone takes something from an unlocked car, this is reported as a larceny theft.
"People have been leaving their laptops in their cars," Hirokawa said. "We've been getting a lot of laptops stolen.
"What I did notice in regards to crimes in '05 is domestic violence is up quite a bit. We also arrested quite a few people for burglaries. Most of our burglaries are usually perpetrated by juveniles from the area, parolees and people trying to find drug money. We did go to the schools more in regards to behavioral issues of fighting and bullying."
Hirokawa said property crimes go in cycles mainly dictated by the state economy. When there is a downturn in the state economy, more parolees and drug users come into town to commit thefts and burglaries, he explained. "Juvenile crimes tend to be behavioral issues and not economic," he said.
"The increase in domestic violence, residential burglaries and theft from autos concerns me. The No. 1 deterrent for residential burglaries and thefts from autos is neighborhood awareness and reporting suspicious activities. The majority of perpetrators that we have arrested have been because of calls from people in the neighborhood reporting suspicious activities. That's the best defense for preventing property crimes."
