Here is a weird set of statitistics about violent crime that one of our most thoughtful readers submitted. Nevada City made California’s top ten, and Grass Valley made the top 20 on an FBI violent crime rate list for last year. The statistics are here. Check it out.
City/population/violent crime rate
1. Oakland/409,723/15.3
2. Oroville/14,718/14.81
3. Desert Hot Springs/25,309/14.78
4. Compton/93,916/14.13
5. Stockton/292,047/13.81
6. Irwindale/1,431/13.28
7. Emeryville/10,207/12.54
8. Nevada City/2,936/12.26
9. Arvin/15,410/12.13
10. Capitola/9,747/11.59
11.Parlier/13,532/11.45
12. Richmond/103,442/11.37
13. West Hollywood/35,885/10.84
14. Commerce/13,466/10.55
15. Red Bluff/13,836/10.26
16. Santa Cruz/56,860/9.73
17. Dos Palos/4,951/9.7
18. Huntington Park/60,514/9.24
19. Grass Valley/12,330/9
20. Lynwood/69,677/8.83
I suspect the reason for this is several-fold:
•The figures are based on a “per capita” measurement, and the population base of Nevada City — and Grass Valley — are among the smallest for incorporated cities where the statistics are measured. The absolute numbers for the local towns — needless to say — are very small compared with bigger cities. Nevada City, for example, reported 36 violent crimes and 98 property crimes. Oakland, which ranks first, reported 6267 violent crimes and 17,325 property crimes.
•As the reader notes, residents of the two cities also are quick to report crimes.
•In addition, “not all agencies participate in the voluntary UCR program and therefore are not reflected in the data,” as the report observes.
Here are some highlights:
Statistics for crime compiled by the FBI from city-provided data for 2010
“Each year the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program collects monthly counts of crimes from thousands of law enforcement agencies. This includes information about violent crime offenses (murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault), and property crime offenses (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson). Not all agencies participate in the voluntary UCR program and therefore are not reflected in the data. Select a city for detailed crime data on that city,” according to the report.
•In 2010, Nevada City reported 36 violent crimes and 98 property crimes. Violent crime includes murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes involve force or threat of force. Property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Theft is the taking of money or property without force or threat of force.
•In 2010, Grass Valley reported 111 violent crimes and 500 property crimes. Violent crime includes murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes involve force or threat of force. Property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Theft is the taking of money or property without force or threat of force.
•In 2010, Oakland reported 6267 violent crimes and 17,325 property crimes. Violent crime includes murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes involve force or threat of force. Property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Theft is the taking of money or property without force or threat of force.
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One of the key indicators for violent crime, mental illness, obesity, and so on is income inequality. I wonder were GV and NC along with all these other towns are when it comes to income inequality? Its not necessarily poverty but inequities of a society that create many of our social ills.
Well, Jeff, with an analysis like that, I guess you better fold the tent on your campaign for County Sheriff or DA. A much more effective headline for the campaign would have been “Nevada City more violent than Richmond: Jeff Pelline ready to step in and shape things up!”
Seriously, though, it is nice to see things put in context. Most of the time, and in most places, Nevada County is a pretty peaceful place.
Well, a headline like that crossed my mind! I hope I’m not going “soft.” LOL.
From what I read, the locales voluntarily provide this information. IF that is accurate, then I suggest the leadership of Nevada City and Grass Valley may want to provide the information locally (and not just the right wing leaning local media outlets) and skip reporting it as all it does is provide information that is not anywhere close to complete for comparison. Hell of a bunch of data points that is great for local planning and information, but by reporting, unless every city and town is REQUIRED to report it, and the requirement is enforced, it just gives both GV and NC a huge black eye. We fret over getting business to locate here and this voluntary “throat cutting” should be reconsidered by those in elective office and city manager types. IF I knew nothing about the area and saw this, I am not sure I would look much further, IF I was considering starting/bringing BIZ or moving here to live. Bad enough the “redneck, racist and Old White Man’s paradise” is in the public domain, true or not.
I had to look up some of those towns and found that Arvin is 99.9 percent Hispanic and Parlier is 97.5 percent Hispanic. Not trying to infer anything here, just thought it was interesting that we have communities that are almost totally Hispanic.
What do rural rednecks, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, and surfers have in common? Rival surf and turf gang violence?
Desert Hot Springs (pop. 26,000) has hired 12 additional police officers in the last 2 years so maybe the stats. will improve there.
Here is a story from the Chico Enterprise Record which discusses Oroville’s #2 rating: http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_19003663#.ToZ8S4W7VQI.facebook
I would hope that those with an interest in protecting the reputation of GV/NC will write a story like this–as indeed Jeff did. Bottom line is that GV/NC is not necessarily that violent. We may have rednecks, but they are of the peaceful sort. Unlike LA which both cities outrank, there were no murders in either city in 2010.
Brad, as for Desert Hot Springs, if they hired 12 additional police officers in the last two years, I would expect their rate of violence to go up as a result. This happens because people become more confident that the police if call will come–an increase in officers likely means more reports, even if the underlying “rate of violence” remains unchanged, or even goes down.
Tony
An interesting set of statistics, but I think some context is important. Crime rates in general, and violent crimes in particular have been declining since the 1990s. This is pretty significant news when one considers the state of our economy. Is this attributable to demographics, better policing, or some combination of factors?
According to a story in the SF Chronicle (http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-05-27/news/29589333_1_violent-crime-police-officials-and-criminologists-homicide-rate) the Brookings Institute has found that violent crime in major metropolitan areas has fallen by 30% from 1990 to 2008. Apparently, suburban rates have also declined but not by quite so large a margin.
A press release from California AG’s office (June 2010 – http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=1940) notes that, “Overall, since statewide crime peaked in 1992, crime rates in all three categories have been cut in half – the rates have tumbled -58.9% for violent crime, -51.7% for property crime, and -48.5% for larceny and theft. In total, more than 1.4 million arrests were made in California in 2009, down from more than 1.9 million 20 years ago.”