by Timothy Rutt
Statistics for the Altadena Sheriff station show a spike in crime for January, with an increase in reports of burglaries, rape, and grand theft auto.
Community volunteer Carolyn Seitz, who sends out a monthly compilation report based on figures from the LA County Sheriff, said that there is "no fear that we have a serial rapist on the loose in Altadena":
There were two allegations of rape reported in January. Both of these were incidents in which the suspect was a person known to the victim... Both of these incidents were more characteristic of domestic violence - still very unfortunate.
As for burglaries, January records a year-to-date increase across the county, including Altadena. Seitz' report says that Lt. Duane Allen, commander of the detective bureau:
indicates that a great deal of attention has been focused on catching burglars in the process and in trying to anticipate where they are most likely to strike. The Altadena Station's Crime Analyst has been working hard to analyze the information on crimes as they occur and many of the victims of crime, as well as observant neighbors who've been calling to report suspicious activity have provided very useful information that is being used to not only anticipate what might occur next, but to help better connect specific behavior or specific descriptions of criminals together and some of that information has been used to help arrest these burglars ...It was information provided by witnesses that helped link a series of burglaries in one area of Altadena to a parolee who was subsequently arrested.
January also indicated an uptick in cases of grand theft auto. Six autos were reported stolen in Altadena in January, but Seitz says that the person behind them is believed to have been arrested, caught in one of the stolen cars.
Overall county and specific Altadena reports are available after the jump. The full 119 page report is available at http://file.lacounty.gov/lasd/cms1_148405.pdf
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is now making more real-time crime statistics available online. You can see the statistics at www.crimemapping.com or on the Sheriff's Department's website at http://sheriff.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/lasd/crimeprevention/
