Overall Crime Rate Dips While Incidents of Violent Crime Rise

Despite a slight decline in San Diego’s overall crime rate during the first quarter of 1991, the number of violent crimes rose for the eighth consecutive year, according to a report delivered to the City Council Wednesday by Police Chief Bob Burgreen.

Violent crime--homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault--jumped 10.4% compared with the same period in 1990.

Police Department spokesman Dave Cohen said the increase in violent crime can be attributed to an increase in drug and gang problems.

“The biggest increase in the violent crimes were robberies,” which climbed from 982 in 1990 to 1,261 in 1991, an increase of more than 28%, Cohen said.

The city’s overall crime rate was down 5.6%, with burglary and auto theft which each decreasing 13.2%.

Cohen said the decline in car thefts was attributable to the success of the department’s Auto Theft Strike Unit in identifying and arresting professional car thieves.

As for the increase in violent crime, Cohen said police have now documented 44 gangs in San Diego with 4,150 members, an increase of 31% over documented membership during the first three months of 1990.

The increase is at least partially due to the department’s increased efforts and ability to document gang members, he added.

Gang-related slayings were up from one in 1990 to five for the first quarter of 1991, he said.

Overall, homicides increased from 32 in 1990 to 34 in 1991.

In other types of violent crime, reported rapes increased from 104 last year to 107 this year, and aggravated assaults dipped slightly, from 1,564 last year to 1,560 this year.

There were 24,286 reported crimes committed in the city during the first quarter of 1991 compared with 25,727 last year, he said. That averages to 86.2 crimes per 1,000 people in San Diego in 1991, down from 92 crimes per 1,000 people in 1990.