Santa Ana has the highest rate of violent crime in the County

The new FBI crime statistics report is out, and “In Santa Ana, the most populous city in the county, the violent crime rate dropped by 1.6 percent in 2007. Still, with 1,947 violent crimes reported, the city had a rate of 57.2 violent crimes per 10,000 residents, the highest in the county,” according to the O.C. Register.

Go to Councilman Vince Sarmiento’s campaign website and check out what he has to say about crime rates in Santa Ana, “The Santa Ana Police Department announces that it has experienced a continued decline in homicide, rape assaults, burglary, larceny, and auto theft. Crime rate reports indicate a 20% decrease over the last two years. Chief Paul M. Walters stated, “This continued decrease in crime is a tribute to the dedication and hard work the men and women of the Santa Ana Police department do on a daily basis, in partnership with our residents, community leaders, and business owners that make the safety and security of our community a top priority.”

Interesting.  Where is Sarmiento getting his data?  It would appear that he is way off.  True, according to the FBI crime has gone down by less than two percent in Santa Ana – but we are number one, and it isn’t close, in the County the number of violent crimes per resident.  See the table above, which is courtesy of the O.C. Register.

I wish I could share with you what Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez are saying about crime in our city, but a search of the Internet reveals that they don’t have campaign websites up yet.  However, it is rather funny that searching for their names turns up dozens of Orange Juice stories about them.  If any local voters use the Internet to research these folks, the results won’t be good for Pulido and Alvarez, or Sarmiento for that matter…

Can we turn things around in Santa Ana?  I think so.  For twenty years Pulido and company have ignored much of the community – and they have no plan as to how to curb crime.  Their plan appears to be to use more cops, but they have cut the number of cops on the streets on a regular basis.  Clearly it is time to try something else.

We need to do more to keep our kids on the straight and narrow.  Rather than underwriting the Discovery Science Center’s planned $60 million expansion, let’s build micro-libraries and pocket parks!  And let’s commit to having MORE summer programs and more learning opportunities throughout the year.

And it is a shame that we pay $2 million a year to the Bowers Museum and hardly get anything out of that for our local populace.  If we are going to pay for the Bower’s operations, let’s get one free day per week for local residents.  And let us choose what day we go there!

And how can we get kids involved in our Artists’ Village?  I would love to see free art classes offered there – who knows what incredible talent is going to waste in our inner city?  Let’s show these kids what they are capable of – let’s empower them to make better choices.

I think many of our wayward youths just don’t have any hope for a better life.  The City of Santa Ana needs to get into the hope business in a big way…if we want to bring crime down in our town.


About Admin

"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.