The San Luis Obispo Police Department is reporting a four percent overall decrease in crime in 2019.
Police say the addition of a full-time crime analyst has helped the department better understand when, where, and how to focus resources and evaluate their crime-fighting strategies.
The 2019 Crime Report shows a 25% decrease in reports of sexual assault, a 37% decrease in residential burglaries, and decreases in traffic citations and party-related noise complaints. In addition, there were no homicides in 2019.
The most significant increase in reported crimes was in the category of commercial burglaries -- 116%. However, police say 79 of the 173 reported commercial burglaries were related to four incidents at storage units or multi-building locations. The Department of Justice requires that each storage unit, shed, or structure that is burglarized be reportedly separately, even if they were all burglarized at the same time.
Reports of robbery and aggravated assault also increased slightly.
The crime report will be reviewed at the San Luis Obispo City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 3. See page 139 of the Council Agenda for the full report.
