Violent crime dropped significantly in Morgan Hill and local
police arrested fewer people in 2010 as compared to the previous
year, echoing trends reported by authorities nationwide.
Violent crime dropped significantly in Morgan Hill and local police arrested fewer people in 2010 as compared to the previous year, echoing trends reported by authorities nationwide.
Last year, police responded to a total of 54 reports of “part one” violent crimes – which include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, according to Morgan Hill police. That’s a 39 percent drop from 2009, when 89 such incidents were reported.
No murders occurred in Morgan Hill in 2010, and the lone homicide reported the previous year – the shooting death of Juan Arellano, Jr., on Crest Avenue – remains unsolved.
Major incidents of property crimes including burglary, theft, vehicle theft and arson, rose slightly, from a total of 654 in 2009, to 659 in 2009 – a rise of 1 percent. That increase could be an indication that drug-related activity is on the rise in Morgan Hill, Chief David Swing said.
Encouraging to Swing was the fact that among violent crimes, incidents in the aggravated assault and robbery columns are down “dramatically.” He owes that to an increased presence of officers in downtown Morgan Hill – where a disproportionate number of violent incidents occurred in 2009 – and to police working directly with the owners of establishments that serve alcohol and are open late at night.
“We try not to make too many assumptions off a one-year decline, but I am encouraged by the numbers,” Swing said. “Less crime is a good thing. We want the community to feel safe in Morgan Hill.”
Although police don’t blame alcohol-serving establishments downtown, there was a spike in violent crime in the area in 2009, Swing said. Last year, starting in the summer, MHPD officers conducted routine foot patrols through downtown at night, with an added presence on weekends.
Particularly encouraging to Swing is that MHPD obtained a 70 percent “clearance rate” on violent crime cases. “That means that in seven out of 10 cases of part one violent crime, we are making an arrest,” Swing said, crediting the city’s dispatch staff, officers and detectives for the timeliness and thoroughness of their response.
The average nationwide clearance rate for those crimes in cities the size of Morgan Hill is about 49 percent, according to the FBI.
The clearance rate for property crimes in Morgan Hill is 17 percent, falling below the national average of 18.7 percent.
“Property crime is up, and we need to focus our efforts accordingly,” Swing said.
According to the FBI, crime in all major categories dropped from year-to-year in 2010. Violent crime fell by 6.2 percent and property crime dropped by 2.8 percent.
At the same time, the city’s total workload in the police department in 2010 saw the lowest numbers since 2005, with 33,172 total events – including citizens’ calls for service to 911 or the dispatch center (about 41 percent), and officers’ proactive or “self-initiated” events (about 59 percent).
In 2009, that number was about 39,300.
Swing said the decrease is due to the department having fewer budgeted sworn officer positions and a transition in traffic enforcement efforts that left the department without a dedicated traffic officer for part of 2010.
The number of drug-related arrests in 2010 versus 2009 was not available at press time, but Swing noted that the MHPD “street crimes unit” focuses on suppressing drug activity by identifying people who are under the influence of drugs, or might be in possession of controlled substances. Plus they coordinate searches of probationers and parolees.
“They are very proactive, and that usually helps to curtail other property crime,” Swing said.
