Rancho Bernardo property crimes continue to rise

Continuing the trend of last year, in 2016 Rancho Bernardans again saw property crime rise during the first half of the year, though not as severely.

Recently released crime statistics by the San Diego Police Department showed there were 26 additional property crimes from January to June of this year, compared to 2015 when the increase over 2014 was 43 incidents.

The majority of the 2016 increases were burglaries, with 47 residential burglaries (up from 35 during the first six months of 2015) and 29 commercial burglaries (an increase from 16 the year before). There were also 140 incidents of theft, five more than in 2015, and 38 auto thefts (down from 42).

Due to the additional crimes, Rancho Bernardo’s property crime ranking went from 28th place citywide among San Diego’s 125 areas to 30th place this year. Its crimes-per-1,000-residents rate increased from 10.92 per 1,000 in 2015 to 12.11 per 1,000 in 2016. The citywide rate was 21.73 property crimes per 1,000 San Diegans this year. Last year it was 20.47 per 1,000.

Violent crimes declined in the first half of 2016, due to there being 68 percent fewer aggravated assaults (six instead of last year’s 19). There were three reported rapes (none in the same period of 2015) and eight robberies (same as 2015), for a total of 17 violent crimes, 10 fewer than the year before.

Despite the decrease in violent crimes, Rancho Bernardo’s violent crime ranking remained at 18th place citywide. There was improvement in its crimes-per-1,000-residents rate, however. It went from 1.29 per 1,000 residents in 2015 to 0.81 per 1,000 residents this year. Citywide violent crimes declined as well, going from 4.22 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in the first half of 2015 to 3.86 violent crimes per 1,000 residents this year.

The crime index combines violent and property crimes. Rancho Bernardo slightly improved its citywide ranking (going from 21st place to 19th), even though its crimes-per-1,000-residents rate got slightly worse (rising from 12.22 last year to 12.92 this year). This reflected an overall increase of 16 crimes, for a total of 271 in the first half of 2016 compared to 255 during the same time in 2015. Citywide there were 25.59 crimes per 1,000 residents, up from the 24.69 per 1,000 residents in 2015.

Car prowls — where property might not have been taken — continued its rising trend. These were not included in the crime index. There were 83 reported this year, compared to 72 last year. Rancho Bernardo dropped to 50th place citywide from its 40th place tie with Tierrasanta last year. In 2016, there were 3.96 car prowls per 1,000 residents, versus 3.45 per 1,000 residents last year. The citywide rate also rose from 4.94 car prowls per 1,000 San Diegans last year to 5.68 per 1,000 San Diegans this year.

To see the crime statistics for other City of San Diego neighborhoods, go to tinyurl.com/SDcrimes.