Record low crime in Laguna Beach: Officials credit innovative programs, heightened police presence

LAGUNA BEACH — Law enforcement officials are crediting greater visibility and innovative police programs for a record low in violent and property crimes in Laguna Beach.

New data from the Laguna Beach Police Department shows the city’s overall crime rate in 2018 was the lowest since 1988, when the department began tracking the numbers. That date coincides with the annexation of South Laguna, said Capt. Jason Kravetz, who began documenting the statistics 31 years ago.

“It’s amazing to look at how much it’s dropped,” he said. “The original numbers are just from Laguna itself and the big drop came when we annexed South Laguna.”

Property crime — including residential and commercial burglary, larceny, arson and motor vehicle theft — had the steepest decline between 2017 and 2018, dropping 19 percent, Kravetz said.

Violent crimes such as sexual assaults declined by 2 percent and robberies dropped 7 percent year to year. Aggravated assaults remained the same and simple assaults increased by 9 percent.

Over the past several years, Laguna Beach Police Chief Laura Farinella has instituted a series of policing programs, she said, that have made a significant difference in the effectiveness of police work in a community that attracts 6.5 million annual visitors.

Both Farinella and Kravetz say police visibility, new technology, community education and outreach have been key factors in the drop in crime.

“We’ve had detectives close a lot of cases involving serial burglaries,” Kravetz said. “We also broke our policing into geographic areas and made officers and sergeants responsible for those districts. Things like Coffee with a Cop, Pizza with a Cop — when you do these things you get community members that come out and it gives them a chance to talk about specific community issues.”

Three years ago, South Laguna neighborhoods and beaches were particularly affected by visiting beachgoers who misbehaved. There was vandalism, theft from homes, littering and public urination.

Farinella responded by increasing patrols in those neighborhoods and doubling up on Beach Patrol officers.

“The reduction in crime in this area is specifically related to a reduction in thefts from the property on the beach while people are walking or in the ocean,” Farinella said. “Having Beach Patrol Officers on foot beats and interacting with the beachgoers has reduced this crime. I also attribute this reduction, as well as thefts from vehicles, to being fully staffed. Seeing police vehicles and police officers frequently on patrols reduces crime.”

Police recently increased their response to complaints at Main Beach. Farinella sent officers there to work with the public and staffed an information canopy that now helps foster community and visitor engagement and provides security.

“Beat sergeants are responsible for identifying any nuisance and crime trends in their beats and to find strategies to combat them, which must include community engagement,” Farinella said.

Residential burglaries are an example of how community education and awareness has made a difference, she said.

“In 2018, residential burglaries were attributed to unlocked doors and open garage doors,” Farinella said. “Identifying this trend, as well as others, enabled the beat sergeants and officers to conduct patrols of specific areas and engage and educate the community regarding the need to secure their homes and garages. This coupled with identifying and arresting those responsible for committing these crimes has driven down crime to its lowest levels.”

Technology has also been a force-multiplier for the department. Cameras deployed citywide, automatic license plate readers and data collected from the department’s new drone team all help drive police department response to crimes.

On Thursday, Feb. 21, Kravetz was in his office when he got a call from dispatchers that the automatic license plate readers had detected a stolen car coming through town. He expected the car eventually would be stopped by Newport Beach police. Sure enough, NBPD officers stopped the car in Corona Del Mar later in the day.

Kravetz, with more than 30 years on the job, said he is amazed at the changes in law enforcement and at the lowering crime numbers.

“We didn’t have DNA, cameras, computers,” he said of when he started. “We weren’t that advanced. And police departments didn’t talk to each other that much. That’s all changed now.”

By the numbers

• Laguna Beach reported 12 sexual assaults in 2016,  seven in 2017 and five in 2018.
• Property crimes dropped from 561 in 2016, to 479 in 2017 479 and to 386 in 2018.
• Robberies dropped from 13 in 2017 to six in 2018.
• There were 25 aggravated assaults in 2016 and 21 in each of 2017 and 2018.
• Simple assaults, which according to police can be driven by domestic violence, climbed from 149 in 2017 to 158 in 2018.