Statistics released by the Davis Police Department this week show upticks in several crimes since the start of the coronavirus shelter-in-place order, including burglaries, robberies and auto thefts.
During the roughly month-and-a-half between March 19 — when both Yolo County and the state of California advised people to stay at home to help curb the COVID-19 spread — and May 5, Davis had 39 break-ins compared to 27 for the same period in 2019, while robberies and stolen-car reports more than doubled from three to seven and seven to 15, respectively.
For the four-month period starting Jan. 1, vehicle thefts were up a total of 37 percent, from 27 to 37, prompting the Police Department to issue a crime alert earlier this week.
While citizens should stay aware and take precautions to reduce their chance of becoming a victim, Police Chief Darren Pytel noted that “overall, we’re not seeing huge changes in crime — it doesn’t take large numbers to see significant percentage increases.”
“The primary message out there is that Davis has always been a magnet for property crime,” Pytel added. Even under shelter-in-place conditions, “it continues to be a problem.”
Overall, property crimes decreased nearly 10 percent during the SIP order, from 250 to 227, with larcenies — personal property theft — cases down by 22 percent. Pytel said that number could be a result of the department’s initial non-response to low-level theft calls as the COVID-19 crisis ramped up.
Instead, theft victims were directed toward the agency’s online reporting system, and “my guess is some people never filled out an online report,” Pytel said.
Meanwhile, violent-crime numbers show mixed results, with overall violence up by 16 percent for the year but down nine percent during the shelter-in-place period compared to last year.
Police investigated six rapes so far this year, the same as last year, with one occurring during SIP. Aggravated assaults, down 67 percent from six to two during SIP, are up nearly 31 percent during the year so far, at 17 since Jan. 1 compared to 13 during the same time last year.
Domestic violence calls have increased as well — by 6.4 percent since March 19 and almost 18 percent since the start of the year.
“That’s a troubling number, especially because of that type of call,” Pytel said. The incidents have involved fights among couples as well as family disputes.
Like many other jurisdictions across the country, Davis saw more domestic violence reports in the two weeks following the stay-at-home orders, followed locally by a downswing police hoped would continue.
“But that just changed this week,” Pytel said, with officers arresting at least three people on domestic violence charges over this past weekend, according to the department’s online police log. Some incidents generated a police response but resolved without an arrest.
“The chatter out there is that people are spending too much time together and not getting along,” the stay-at-home orders exacerbating households already afflicted by abuse, said Pytel, who has regular conversations with police chiefs statewide. “It’s not just a local trend. It’s all over.”
But while concerns arose regarding a possible increase in child-abuse incidents in the wake of school closures combined with stressful conditions for parents such as job losses and financial setbacks, “locally, we haven’t seen that trend at all,” Pytel said.
Crime prevention tips
In its auto-theft alert, police offered the following tips for protecting your vehicle:
* Lock your doors and close the windows.
* Remove your keys from the vehicle, and don’t leave a spare key nearby.
* Park in well-lit areas.
* Install an audible alarm system and anti-theft device.
* Don’t leave valuables in your car.
* Be alert.
If your car is stolen, contact the police immediately. Be ready to provide the year, make, model and color of the car; the license plate number and vehicle identification number.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene