Hate crimes in the city of San Diego decreased by only one incident in 2016 over hate crimes committed in 2015 for a total of 35 crimes, according to the police chief’s report on crime statistics.
There were 11 crimes attributed to the anti-gay bias of an attacker in 2016 as compared with 14 such incidents in 2015 involving sexual orientation. There were 15 incidents involving racial prejudice in 2016 and 14 in 2015.
Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman gave these figures to the San Diego City Council last month. The third ranking figure were hate crimes committed by religious bias which tied for seven incidents in both 2016 and 2015.
There were two hate crimes attributed to gender in 2016 as compared with one in 2015. The net reduction in hate crimes overall was 2.8 percent.
Zimmerman also told the Council there was a 32 percent increase in murders in 2016 with 49 people killed in 2016 and 37 in 2015. She said the increase is due to 16 gang related homicides.
In the 1980s and 1990s, there were often over 100 homicides per year. One year there were 157. The reduction has popularly been attributed to the three strikes law.
There were 1,387 robberies in 2016 as compared with 1,378 in 2015, an increase only up by less than one percent. Zimmerman said there were 10 commercial robbery series, with eight of the 10 solved.
The overall results show that San Diego’s crime rate is the second lowest in 47 years. The decrease is 4.5 percent lower in violent crimes in 2016 as compared with 2015.
“I think your community policing is working,” said Councilmember Lorie Zapf to Zimmerman.
There were 572 rapes reported in 2016 and 566 in 2015, an increase of 1.1 percent. Zimmerman said rape is believed to be one of the most unreported crimes.
Vehicle thefts increased by 14.6 percent with 5,839 thefts in 2016 and 5,096 in 2015. Aggravated assaults dipped by 7.7 percent with 3,323 last year and 3,601 in 2015. Burglaries decreased by 7.5 percent with 4,743 in 2016 and 5,129 in 2015.
There was no vote taken by the Council as it was an informational item.
