“In the coming years,” and as Chief MacKinnon gets more used to the computer system, the SPPD “will be doing more with statistics and crime analysis to attempt to identify trends and establish programs and or policies to make improvements.”Councilman John Procter noted that increased law enforcement raises the numbers of crimes and contacts, and “that can be deceptive…. It shows a more vigorous attempt at getting the bad guys.”Chief MacKinnon said that, due to traffic enforcement, he expects to see the number of accidents decrease.Mayor Rick Cook said he appreciated the breakdown of categories for officer initiated contacts, a “statistic we haven’t had and asked for” for seven years.“I tasked several sergeants to track all officers’ activity,” so that a future comparison can be made of the most productive and the least productive, said Chief MacKinnon. After the comparisons are studied, the less productive officers can be worked with to be more motivated in initiating contacts, he added.
2005: Calls for service up but crime down
March 10, 2006
Santa Paula City Council
Calls were up but crime was down last year in Santa Paula, the City Council learned when they were presented with the 2005 Crime Statistics Report.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesCalls were up but crime was down last year in Santa Paula, the City Council learned when they were presented with the 2005 Crime Statistics Report. The Council heard the report by Police Chief Steve MacKinnon at the February 21 meeting.“A general observation of the statistics” is that crime in Santa Paula is “down very slightly as compared to last year, but overall calls for service increased” 12.6 percent, said Chief MacKinnon.Using the standard measure for unlawful activity – the Crime Index – which determines the number of Part 1 crimes per 1,000 residents, Santa Paula had 39.04 crimes per one thousand city dwellers. The number is down from the 39.60 crimes per 1,000 residents in 2005. Ventura’s 2004 crime index was 39.67, while Oxnard had a crime index of 31.66; the 2002 national Crime Index was reported as 41.18 while California’s was 39.43 for the same reporting period. “We’re a little lower than the national and state average, but while our crime rate is roughly the same, our calls for service went up fairly significantly, 12 percent,” noted Chief MacKinnon. Officer-observed offenses also jumped, primarily due to the new patrol of a motorcycle traffic officer.
