Crime decreased slightly in Santa Barbara County in 2020, but violent crimes increased.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office statistics show crimes in several areas of the county decreased more than seven percent from 2019 to 2020.
The areas include Buellton, Solvang, Carpinteria, Goleta and unincorporated parts of the county.
Violent crimes decreased seven percent and homicides decreased as well, but some crime including reported rapes, nearly doubled in 2020.
“It's a concern that these crimes are occurring in the home and there's also a concern that a lot of these crimes are going unreported or under reported because of the diminished interaction with people who would possibly report these crimes,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Raquel Zick.
Of the cities included in the report, Solvang was the only one to see a decrease in overall crime.
Buellton, Carpinteria and Goleta all saw increases.
