Sheriff’s crime report for first half of 2019 is a mixed bag

EL CENTRO — Assaults and car thefts recorded this year by the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office are on the rise, while larcenies and other types of theft have been declining, according to crime statistics from ICSO this newspaper obtained through a public information request.

The statistics looked at seven crimes recorded for the department for all of 2018 through the first six months of 2019.

Assaults increased 18.3 percent from the first six months of 2018 compared with the same period this year, going from 142 assaults to 168.

However, there were 189 assaults committed in the last six months of 2018, according to the Sheriff’s Office report.

The were 77 fewer larcenies or thefts for the first six months of 2019, going from 232 in January through June of 2018 to 155 in the same period of 2019. In the last six months of 2018, there were another 222 thefts.

Burglaries remained roughly the same, going from 83 to 84 for the first six months of the year. There were 176 burglaries the Sheriff’s Office responded to for all of 2018.

Imperial County Supervisor Ray Castillo, a former police officer, said the decreasing number of thefts, to him, can be tied to the lower unemployment rate, which was estimated at 18.6 percent in June.

He said the numbers tell him more people are working instead of committing crimes to get money.

Motor vehicle theft, in comparing the first six months of 2018 versus 2019, increased 17.7 percent, from 45 to 53. For all of 2018, 86 vehicles were stolen.

The three other major crimes of the seven the Department of Justice tracks reflects little change.

Robberies declined from five in 2018 to three. There were 12 robberies for all of 2018.

Rapes were up from five to six, and the Sheriff’s Office logged one homicide in 2019. ICSO recorded no homicides in the first six months of 2018 before finishing the year with three.

Castillo said the numbers show Imperial County compares favorably with other cities in California. Los Angeles, for example, he said, gets dozens of bank robberies every year, while Imperial County might have one or two.

Castillo, speaking from his time as a police officer, said crimes usually increase around the holidays.

The Department of Justice tracks the seven crimes every year, and Castillo said he thinks supervisors should be provided with the numbers every so often. He said ICSO currently does not report the numbers to the supervisors.

“I think we should ask the sheriff to give us statistics once or twice a year,” he said. “Most of the other departments provide statistics.”

Castillo said he intends to talk to the county executive officer, Tony Rouhotas, to see if the supervisors can get the reports.

Messages left with Imperial County Sheriff Raymond Loera were not returned.