Over the first half of 2023, the number of homicides, robberies and car thefts is down in San Diego County.
According to a report from the San Diego Association of Governments, homicides are down 17%, robberies 12% and car thefts 4% through June 2023.
There were 44 homicides and 679 rapes reported in the first half of 2023, compared to 53 and 949 during the same period in 2022.
"Violent crime has gone down. Property crime has gone down, but not in all areas," San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert said. "Unfortunately, we are still seeing some home burglaries in certain spots, and people are getting their catalytic converters stolen, especially out of their Priuses, so it hasn’t universally gone down in all parts of the city. But I am glad to see that overall crime has gone down."
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Another notable finding in the SANDAG report was that property crime accounted for 58% of total crime in the San Diego region.
The public doesn’t always coincide with statistics, but many people NBC 7 spoke with say they feel safer.
“I think that’s a great thing," Jordan Blackmun said. "It’s always good to have less crime than more, so it’s impressive that it’s going down."
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Despite the numbers, local leaders say the fear is personal.
“I realize that people may not feel safer even though crime statistics have gone down, and we see that because hate crimes are still on the rise nationwide. Even here in San Diego County, we saw a slight dip last year,” von Wilpert said.
This SANDAG report is the first one released using the California Incident Based Reporting System/National Based Incident Reporting System.
“This transition to the new crime reporting system is a significant change and reflects the strong partnerships," Octavio Rodriguez, SANDAG principal criminal justice researcher, said. "For the first time, we are better able to track crimes against society and understand the nature of different offenses and how they affect our communities."
