Graphic: Crescenta Valley Crime Rates Fall in First Third of Year

The has released crime figures for the first four months of 2011, and the news is good for La Cañada Flintridge and the Crescenta Valley: Violent crime is down by 21 percent and property crime dropped 8 percent, compared with the first four months of 2010.

Property and violent crime together, which the department refers to as Part I crimes, are down 9.2 percent in the Crescenta Valley--just a little higher of a drop than the overall county saw at 7.99 percent.

Robberies saw the biggest drop in the Crescenta Valley, with one reported incident in the first third of the year. At the same time last year, the area had recorded six: That's a difference of 83.6 percent, according to the sheriff department's statistics. The drop is slightly larger if you look back to 2006 figures, which show seven reported for this time period.

One each of criminal homicide and forcible rape were reported both in 2010 and 2011 during the first four months, so there's no change in those percentages. Aggravated assaults inched up slightly, from 11 to 12, showing a 9 percent increase in 2011 so far, versus 2010's first few months. 

Capt. Dave Silversparre of the Crescenta Valley Station said while he's pleased with an overall reduction in violent and property crimes, "We must continue to work together in a community partnership to maintain these reductions.

"In May, we have experienced some vehicle and residential burglaries. While my dedicated staff is diligently investigating past cases, I urge the community to keep valuables out of plain sight and immediately call us if they suspect something is out of the ordinary,'' he said.

The multiple burglaries of cars and homes in May reflect a continued increase in this category of property crime.

During the first four months of the year burglaries jumped 20 percent, with an increase of 48 to 58. Still,  property crimes as a whole, which include larceny theft and grand theft auto, dipped 8 percent. Another type of property crime, arson, increased from three to four.