Title
Recommendation to Accept Report on Alameda Crime Data, Statistics, and Trends from 1988 through 2017. (Police)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jill Keimach, City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Accept Report on Alameda Crime Data, Statistics, and Trends from 1988 through 2017
BACKGROUND
In October, 2017 the Alameda Police Department (APD) and members of the City Council began to receive complaints and concerns about an increase in crime within the city. The concerns appeared to be generated by a series of highly publicized laptop thefts from several Starbucks locations, as well as various anecdotal accounts of thefts on social media platforms.
While it is true that there was a spike in crime from 2016 to 2017, Alameda is still in the midst of an overall thirty year low in crimes reported. Despite that fact, the social media reports have caused some to doubt the safety of the community and the effectiveness of the Police Department.
On November 21, 2017, the City Council approved a referral to provide a public update on crime within the City of Alameda.
DISCUSSION
APD sends a monthly report to the FBI containing all crimes reported in Alameda. These reports are based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) requirements. Within UCR, there are two types of crimes to be reported; Part I crimes are the more serious offenses, which include murder, rape, robbery, felony assaults, theft, burglary, auto theft, and arson. Part II crimes are essentially all other crimes such as simple assault, identity theft, vandalism, narcotics offenses, etc.
The most common Part I crimes committed in Alameda are petty and grand theft, burglary, and auto theft. The most common Part II crimes in Alameda are simple assault, vandalism, forgery/counterfeit, drunk in public, and narcotics offenses.
In calendar year 2017, APD received a total of 5,075 crime reports versus 4,514 during calendar year 2016. The difference amounts to an incre...
Click here for full text