Crime down in Stanton, council told

By Brittany Hanson/Garden Grove Journal

“It’s a big thing,” said Lt. Jeff Pasalaqua, Stanton’s chief of police services, “It’s definitely good.”

The big thing is a big drop in violent crime over the course of 2012, down by 36 percent from the previous year. Overall crime is down by 4 percent.

Since 2007, crime is down 24 percent overall. The violent crime since 2007 is down 38 percent.

Pasalaqua, who serves in Stanton via the Orange County Sherriff’s department, presented the crime statistics to the city council at Tuesday’s meeting.

Violent crime encompasses homicide, rape, robbery and assault.

Pasalaqua cited that most crime in the city is and has been committed by a small group of people.

“A lot of the guys who have caused the problems are now in jail,” said Pasalaqua, who cited before the meeting that approximately 3 percent of the population was committing 95 percent of the crime.

With an increase in arrests there are now less calls of crime coming in.

The fewer the calls, the better.

“Instead of being bogged down in paperwork, or overwhelmed, our deputies can be out in force, flying the flag, being a presence in the community,” said Pasalaqua, “When a call does come in, they can be right on the scene and with an arrest following that.”

The only individual statistic that showed an increase in 2012 was auto-theft. There were 128 incidents in 2012 and 100 incidents in 2011.

In 2012, there was one homicide, three rapes, 46 robberies, 54 assaults, 121 burglaries, 381 larcenies and 128 auto-thefts.

In 2011 there was one homicide, seven rapes, 53 robberies, 80 assaults, 139 burglaries, 390 larcenies and 100 auto-thefts.

Police services were cut in 2012 by $1,128,218. This meant a reduction in staff for the department, who were relocated by the OCSD to serve elsewhere in the county.