BARSTOW — Barstow police Chief Albert Ramirez Jr. said the dramatic increase in burglaries is the most alarming trend he has seen this year as crime in the city continues to rise.
Crimes reported from January through June are up in most categories compared with the same time period last year, statistics show. The Barstow Police Department Uniform Crime Report statistics show total crime in the city from January through June rose 19 percent. Total violent crimes rose 11 percent, but total property crime is up 25 percent.
During the first half of the year, police reported 222 total burglaries, a 52 percent increase from the same time frame last year. Robberies rose 50 percent.
Ramirez says the spike is likely due to inadequate penalties following the Realignment Act in 2011, also known as AB109, along with the November passage of Proposition 47, a ballot measure that downgraded minor offenses — drug possession and thefts — from felonies to misdemeanors and set thousands of inmates free in an effort to reduce prison overcrowding.
Ramirez said he also feels drugs play a significant factor in local burglaries.
“A lot of time burglaries are committed by people who use drugs and they steal to trade that property for drug money,” Ramirez said. “As we know, Prop 47 reduced a lot of drug crimes to misdemeanors now. Those people aren’t staying incarcerated as long as they used to. A lot of times they just get booked and cite-released the same day of their arrest.”
Local businesses also are noticing an uptick in property crime. Billy Rosenberg, co-owner of Barstow Station, said earlier this year he and his brother Ben were forced to “dig deep in their pockets” after one of their buildings was broken into and “gutted.”
Bibi Boucher, general manager at the Sleep Inn in Barstow, said she has noticed a rise in crime at the hotel.
“We've had numerous break-ins and have had to call the police numerous times in just the past couple months because there has been a huge uprising,” Boucher said. “I’ve reported break-ins to guest cars and and people stealing their belongings. Even lots of harassment towards my front desk staff, especially my graveyard guys.”
Auto thefts are also up 21 percent this year, statistics show. Police reported 81 auto thefts, 14 more than last year. Through June police also have taken 198 reports of larceny, up five percent from the same time period in 2014.The increase in violent crime included two murders. There were no murders in the city during the first half of last year, but this year police reported two murders — a March slaying of 19-year-old Emmitt Burns and the June killing of 34-year-old Miguel Rios. Both of their alleged killers are currently behind bars.Police reported 33 robberies, a 50 percent increase from the same period last year, and 269 assaults, up 7 percent. Rapes remained unchanged from the first half of last year, with five.Although some experts have speculated recently that poverty and income disparity play a significant role in rising crime, Ramirez said he did not have any data indicating whether or not that pertains to Barstow.“Anybody can commit a crime, whether you’re rich or you don’t have that much money,” Ramirez said.Ramirez contends that too many convicts are back on the streets by way of lenient sentences. As a result, the police chief said he has noticed an increase in the number or repeat offenders.“We arrest a lot of the same people because we’re an isolated community,” Ramirez said. “If we reduce crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, people don’t stay in jail long enough. They release thousands of prisoners back to the streets. Now I’m sure not all of them are committing crimes still, but I’m sure some of them are.”Barstow is not alone. Earlier this week, District Attorney Michael Ramos announced property crimes have increased in the county as a result of Prop. 47."This is not a good time and we're seeing the crime rates go up," he said.Although Ramos supports legislation to overhaul some of the changes under Prop 47, Ramirez said crime reduction starts in the household and through education.
“It’s about raising children and teaching them right from wrong and bringing them up with good morals,” Ramirez said. “Education is a key also. We also expand on that here at the department by doing community-oriented police events like National Night Out, Neighborhood Watch and our new program Coffee with a Cop. We also get involved with probation compliance checks, a number of sweeps, and we also go ahead and do a number of crime-specific operations based on crime analysis we get.”