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news:
Heat and no school;
summer crime rises
By Alex Roman
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The Memorial Day
weekend typically signifies the unofficial beginning of summer
for many. But as schools begin to let out and the heat goes
up, so does crime in the City of Long Beach.
"We can actually
only assume it's because schools are closed," said Nancy
Tabing, spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department.
"With more young people out doing nothing, it's natural
that crime may go up some over the summer, because some people
have less to do."
The city has seen
increased crime numbers in the last two summers. The total
number of reported crimes rose 1.7 percent in July of 2000,
up from 1999's total. The trend continued in August when total
crimes reported rose 7.2 percent.
Crimes in the months
of July and August are typically higher than in the late spring
and early summer months. The total number of crimes reported
last year rose to 2,780 in July and 2,877 in August, up from
2,508 in April.
This could be bad
news for the Long Beach Police Department as crime in April
of this year showed a 6.6 percent increase from April 2000,
as total crimes rose from 2,508 in 2000 to 2,674.
In addition there
have been recent reports confirming that crime in Los Angeles
County is on the rise.
"It's hard
to say why crime in general is on the rise," said Tabing.
"We anticipate there will be an increase, but why crime
in general is increasing is a question that we just can't
answer."
However, thanks
in part to lower enrollment during the summer at Cal State
Long Beach, on-campus crime seems to be cut in half according
to University Police Captain Stan Skipworth.
"We will have
a lot of activity that happens within the city limits and
the surrounding areas of the university," Skipworth said
of the summer crime rates. "Some of that activity may
come on to campus from time to time, but even when it does
the overall numbers tend to drop."
The University
Police answer about 125 calls a month during the spring and
fall semesters, according to their statistics. In the
summer however, those numbers usually drop to an estimated
60 reports a month.
" What's interesting
is that even during that time frame, you do have a lot of
day-to-day special event programming," Skipworth said.
"Of course the first part of August, people start coming
back to get ready for the academic year and during that time
frame, it's not that uncommon to see an increase in the number
of reports."
The types of crimes
committed on campus during the summer months tend to change,
according to Skipworth, who said that there are more people
on campus for outside events who seem to mill around after
those events are over.
There was a significant
increase in the number of reports during this year's commencement
exercises. In addition to medical calls and increased traffic,
University Police apprehended two pickpockets.
However, the increase
in crime during the graduation ceremonies, which were busier
than past ceremonies, does not indicate an increase in crime
rates for the duration of the summer, according to Skipworth.
"I think anytime
you use a three-day period to compare crime projections you're
not doing yourself a favor," Skipworth said. "However,
if it's extrapolated out from that first three days and we're
seeing a pattern, maybe we need to adjust to that."
While typically
crime does drop during the summer session at CSULB, the rise
in crime throughout the City of Long Beach and the threat
of some of that crime spreading on campus is keeping University
Police on alert.
"L.A. County
has seen an increase in criminal activity over the last year,"
Skipworth said. "I'd like to say that we're immune to
that, but we're not. We can be influenced by things that go
on within the county and we need to be prepared for that."
At this point,
at the start of the summer sessions and without data on the
crime that has occurred since Memorial Day, it is impossible
for either University Police or LBPD to predict what the actual
rates might be.
"We don't
have the exact numbers in right now," Skipworth said.
"But it hasn't been busy to start off, which is great."
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