FBI data shows violent and property crime is on the rise in California

UPDATE 2/29/2016 6:15 PM: New numbers from the FBI show California’s crime rates increased last year. The Central Coast is not immune with local law enforcement reporting an uptick as well.

Preliminary data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report looks at crime trends in hundreds of cities with populations over 100,000 in the country. California had 66 cities on the list, including Salinas, which is seeing increases in crime.

2015 saw a record number of homicides.

“Other than our homicide rates that shot through the roof this last year, our other violent crimes did increase slightly but not a tremendous increase,” Salinas Police Deputy Chief Dave Shaw said. “Similar to our property crimes. Our property crimes did go up slightly but not a tremendous increase that we saw with our homicides.”

That’s not the only agency seeing an uptick, so is Capitola.

However, Capitola Police Chief Rudy Escalante says he hopes a recently instituted program will help stop crime, even catch criminals. It’s called “Capitola on Watch.”

“We have over a dozen businesses and residences that have applied and registered the fact we know they have a camera so then in the event a crime happens in that area, we may be able to view suspect information that’s important for us to have,” Escalante said.

It’s helped in a case near the Capitola Mall.

Other agencies are harnessing the power of surveillance cameras like Seaside and King City. Most recently, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.

“We do not have access to the camera,” Commander John Thornburg said. “We still have to come and ask the owner of the camera, “Hey can we look at it, can we see if there’s any useful footage? But it does give us a list of cameras and where they are.”

Click here to see the FBI report.

ORIGINAL POST:

New data from the FBI show property crime is on the rise in California.

The study covered crime rates between January 2015 to June 2015. According to the data, California cities rank first in property crime increases for the first half of 2015. San Francisco came in first, followed by Long Beach, Los Angeles, then Albuquerque, New Mexico.

KION’s Mariana Hicks will investigate property crime issues across the Central Coast. Catch her story tonight.