Lakewood crime rise = normal?
Huge spike in assaults. Grand theft autos still rising.
By Brian Maquena: brianmaquena@yahoo.com
February 1, 2023
LAKEWOOD, CALIF. — Crime rose to its highest level in more than half a decade, but officials described the surge as normal.
“This increase can be attributed to comparing crimes from the atypical year of 2021—where we had a record crime decrease due to the pandemic—and then the zero-bail program we had in the first half of the year in 2022, which contributed to us having repeat offenders,” said Capt. Dan Holguin, who leads the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station
Capt. Holguin presented the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s annual crime report at the Jan. 24 Lakewood City Council meeting. He said that the 19 percent increase in “Part 1 Crimes”—violent and property crimes regularly highlighted by the Sheriff’s Department—was typical of surrounding cities and other areas of the county.
“When comparing our 2022 numbers to 2017, which is a more traditional...recent year, we had a 20 percent decrease in Part 1 Crimes,” Capt. Holguin said.
Mayor Steve Croft joined Capt. Holguin in framing the crime rise as ordinary: “2020 and 2021 were not normal years,” he said at the Council meeting.
Sheriff’s Department data showed Lakewood experienced 2,215 “Part 1 crimes” for 2022. The last time the city had experienced that level of crime was in 2016 and 2017, the city’s two worst years for crime in the past decade. These are the same numbers Capt. Holguin characterized as normal.
Click the following links to access the Sheriff’s Department crime data: All stats; 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021; 2022.
Most noticeable in 2022 were the number of aggravated assaults, grand theft autos and rapes.
Lakewood in 2022 experienced the highest number of aggravated assaults in the past 10 years. Coming in at 241 assaults for the year, the second-highest number was 162 aggravated assaults the previous year. That means the city experienced a near 50 percent increase in aggravated assaults year-over-year, despite 2021 already having had an abnormally high number of assaults.
Capt. Holguin said that there was an unusual spree of aggravated assaults involving multiple victims. When discussing such crimes in his third quarterly report last year, Capt. Holguin said Oct. 25 that these multiple victims included spouses, acquaintances, neighbors, classmates, and relatives.
Lakewood Sheriff’s Station’s crime suppression unit was able to capture a local gang member, who allegedly assaulted his neighbor Sept. 30th, said Capt. Holguin at the Oct. 25 Council meeting. The suspect was known for assaults and for tagging, and deputies took the suspect into custody Oct. 19th. The suspect was then-facing multiple felony charges, said Capt. Holguin at the time.
Lakewood’s surge of grand theft autos continued through 2022, which at 428 had by far the most grand theft autos over the last decade. However, the city has had some success in combatting such crimes.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested a male believed to be involved in Kia thefts, Capt. Holguin said during last year’s third quarterly report. The man was then-residing in the Lakewood Motel.
At 19, Lakewood had its most reported rapes since 2018 and 2019, when the city had 23 and 20 reported rapes, respectively.
However, during his third quarterly report last year, Capt. Holguin explained that some of these rapes occurred years before but were only reported in 2022. During that same meeting, when the city then-had 15 reported rapes, all suspects were known to the victims, Capt. Holguin said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Title was changed to be less sensationalist and to better focus on the facts. (“New Normal” was replaced with “Normal”.)
So great to have you back on the case Brian! Great reporting as always. Thank you for reporting actual facts and figures to residents of Lakewood. We need you!