Loma Linda's Violent Crime Drops in 2010 Feds Say

Already known as a city with a low amount of crime, Loma Linda saw it’s numbers of violent crimes drop by a little more than 40 percent in 2010 over the previous year.

The latest crime numbers were released Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of the annual Crime in the United States reports. Each police agency submits annual numbers for violent and property crime every year for the FBI to compile.

Loma Linda’s violent crime dropped to 28 reported incidents, down from 47 in 2009 and 43 in 2008.

According to the report, there were no murders, three forcible rapes, seven robberies and 18 aggravated assaults in the city. In 2009, there was one murder, eight forcible rapes, 13 robberies and 25 aggravated assaults.

The number of reported burglaries, considered property crimes in 2010 was up slightly to 173 from 145 in 2009. Larcenies and vehicle thefts were down 298 and 83 respectively, down from 351 larcenies and 130 car thefts in 2009.

“Another kind of interesting factor is maybe just special to Loma Linda based upon the large community of hospitals we have here would be the calls for service we for psychological evaluations,” Loma Linda Police Lt. Stephen Dorsey reported to the council last week. “A majority of these are actually to doctor's offices here in the community.”

From January to Aug. 20, Loma Linda Police recorded 91 calls for officers to take psychological evaluations. Of those, 56 were deemed to be a potential harm to themselves to others, Dorsey said.

“The reason I’m bringing this up is because when this occurs, we lose a deputy for about two hours from active patrol,” Dorsey said.

The deputy must take time to fill out proper paperwork and transport the individual to a care facility, and that means a drive to a county facility, Dorsey said.

Councilman Ron Daily told Dorsey some felt crime had been creeping up this year thanks to some incidents that received a lot of media exposure.

On Aug. 16, there was a drug bust during which several tombstones were recovered. Residents were also stunned by the July 27 arrest of 19-year-old Breon Gray, suspected of sexually assaulting a woman as she slept in her home.

A 15-year-old -- who was not identified because of his age and who allegedly with Breon at the time -- was also arrested on suspicion of burglary, police investigators said.