Crime Drops Double Digits in Pasadena

Reported crimes in Pasadena have dropped to the lowest levels in four years, according to a report released by the Pasadena Police Department.

Calls for police service dropped by 14 percent in the first seven months of 2016 compared with calls last year at the same time, the report said, and August, too, has been at lower volume than last year.

Compared to 2015, Pasadena has seen a 41 percent decrease in rape, a 35 percent decrease in vehicle burglaries and an 18 percent decrease in theft.

Two categories which have risen — one dramatically — are assaults with a deadly weapon, which has jumped 45 percent, and robberies, which climbed by 17 percent.

There has been one homicide this year, which matches last year’s murder rate for the seven months.

“We’ve seen a drop in crime nationally. There’s been upticks in specific types of crimes, but overall there’s been a decrease,” said Councilmember John Kennedy, Chair of Pasadena’s Public Safety Committee.

“I think there is a direct correlation between certain types of crimes and how well the economy is doing. As the economy continues to improve, albeit slowly, I believe we’ll see even greater drops in overall crime,” Kennedy said.

According to a data provided by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the United States in general saw a decrease of overall crime but an uptick of violent crime as 63 police departments in major cities such as Los Angeles, Los Vegas, Memphis and Chicago reported a combined 114 more murders, 260 more rapes, 837 more robberies, 818 more nonfatal shootings and 3,132 more violent assaults in the first three months of 2016 compared to 2015.

Kennedy attributes Pasadena’s lower crime numbers to a well-educated police force.

“The current Chief of the Pasadena Police Department has made it a mission to hire officers and police personnel who have college degrees,” Kennedy said. “The higher the college degree, the better the policing.”

Lieutenant Vasken Gourdikian said he believes the increase in robberies in Pasadena can be attributed to Prop 47, a California measure that passed in November 2014 that reduced sentences for certain crimes, and AB 109, a bill that shifted the burden of supervision of certain populations of offenders from the state to the counties.

“Proposition 47 increased some of the thresholds for felony crimes, now placing burglaries below a certain threshold which means they can be prosecuted as misdemeanors,” Gourdikian said. “Persons that are being released early due to AB 109 and Prop 47 are inclined to commit property crimes.”

“We are now at the third or fourth year post AB 109, and we’re in the second year of Prop 47,” Gourdikian said. “We are now starting to feel the full weight of the new legislations in California.”

Gourdikian said the dramatic increase of calls for assaults with a deadly weapon likely result from criminal and gang activity in Northwest Pasadena.

“Assault with a deadly weapon is typically gang-related,” Gourdikian said. “The Northwest service area, which has most of our street gangs, is known to be prevalent in street shootings and assaults with a deadly weapon.”

Gary Moody, President of the Pasadena branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), says he believes the fluctuations of crime rates are normal for this time of year.

“About this time of the year, it usually goes down unless there is something specific going on” Moody said. “So right now, I feel kind of good about it. It’s a usual occurrence, as far as I know.”

Gourdikian believes vigilance as a community is key to stopping crime, and reassured the citizens of Pasadena that this is a safe place to live despite the current increase of crime in specific categories.

“We encourage our public to engage with the police department and give information that can perhaps lead to the arrest of a criminal or criminals,” Gourdikian said. “We encourage them to communicate with us. We assure the public that while these numbers and percentages in certain categories might seem high, the overall numbers are still very low, especially from a historical perspective. Pasadena is a very safe city to live in.”