On Tuesday evening, the Santa Monica City Council heard its annual update on crime statistics and severity from the Santa Monica Police Department’s (SMPD) Chief Ramon Batista.

The initial takeaway from the report was there were 103,462 total calls for police service last year, which represented a one percent drop. However, there was an almost 10 percent increase in service actions initiated by officers themselves. Eighteen percent of all calls, or 18,939, were directly related to homelessness.

Santa Monica’s parks are often locations where police activity is requested or officer-initiated, particularly Palisades, Reed, and Tongva Parks.

“One of the things we tried to do this year in addressing some of the concerns we had at the three major parks was to make sure we had an increased presence in our public service officers and our downtown service officers,” said Batista. He also said that as the year went on and residents became accustomed to more officers in the parks, the number of resident calls “Dropped precipitously.”

The number of “Priority 0s” – highest priority, life-threatening crimes – fell slightly, from 839 in 2022 to 820 last year. “Priority 1s” – serious crimes that just occurred – rose slightly, from 12,115 in 2022 to 12,187 last year. “Priority 2s” – lesser crimes with a time delay – dropped from 26,808 to 25,061. “Priority 3s,” – municipal code violations – fell from 37,325 to 26,494. “Priority 4s” – crimes reported after the fact and some parking violations – rose from 27,064 to 28,900.

Within these categories, police response times “Improved, generally across the board,” said Batista, except Priority 4s. Batista credited the Office of Emergency Management and the 9-1-1 staff for the improvement, as well as something called “Live 9-1-1.” That feature allows cops out in the field to listen in to 9-1-1 calls as they’re happening, which may allow them to get to locations faster with a direct understanding of what’s happening.

Priority 1 crimes totaled 4,884 last year, representing a 2.7 percent increase over 2022.  These include violent crimes like homicides, aggravated and sexual assaults, and robberies. Another category within Priority 1 includes larceny, burglary, car theft, and arson. By comparison, the pre-pandemic number in 2019 was 4,603.

“Larceny and Grand Theft Auto continue to plague the country, and we’re a microcosm of that,” said Batista. Larceny, or thefts of personal property – including shoplifting – alone represented 59 percent of all Priority 1 crimes in 2023.

One bit of good news Batista reported is that the kind of robberies we see on the street, at the beach, in our parks, and on the pier, are down 42 percent.

Priority 2 crimes totaled 3,484 last year, a seven percent increase from 2022. Examples of these crimes include simple assault, vagrancy, vandalism, narcotics possession, DUI, prostitution, and disorderly conduct. Simple assaults – where there is no injury, but “Involve some kind of pushing and shoving” as Batista put it – led the way in this category with 859 incidents. “We just can’t have that,” he said.

Batista also stated that vandalism, while high at over 700 incidents, was down last year. And he said the only reason narcotics arrests are up is an increase in officers proactively going out and making sure that kind of activity isn’t happening. He said the same kind of proactive work has been applied to DUIs.

The chief was able to report good news concerning safety in downtown parking structures, with calls for service there seeing a significant decrease. Increases in lighting and cameras, as well as work with a private security company, seem to have contributed to fewer problems there.

In terms of actual arrests, there was an increase in misdemeanor arrests from 1,539 in 2022 to 1,728 last year. As for felony arrests, there was an increase from 893 to 988. But once again, Batista credited the increases to officers being more proactive.

On the homeless front, Santa Monica has a no-camping ordinance in place, so homeless encampments are not allowed. SMPD officers engaged with 423 encampments last year to inform the unhoused they needed to break camp and offered warnings.

Overall, there were 2,472 calls for service attending to the unhoused, with 1,015 cases that were closed. The calls ended up being for a mix of issues, including engaging with encampments, referrals to service and screening interviews, and officer-initiated activities like pedestrian and traffic stops.

In response to the rise in organized retail thefts – usually perpetrated by a mob of several people – that have made headlines around L.A. County, Batista said the SMPD joined the LAPD’s Organized Theft Task Force last year. Batista maintains, however, that Santa Monica’s Downtown area has largely been spared this kind of crime thus far. SMPD joining the task force was their way of “Thinking ahead,” the chief said.

Looking ahead to 2024, the chief listed several things the department is looking forward to having in their toolbox, including:

• A real-time crime information center
• Renovation of CCTV cameras
• Video management and video analytics software
• GIS mapping software
• A transparency and accountability web portal
• Network software integration

“This will be a reality if we stay on track, and I promise you we will,” Batista said of the upgrades and additions.

Councilmember Oscar de la Torre asked about the protocols being used to take more guns off the streets, an increase the chief noted earlier, particularly guns seized during traffic stops.

Batista attributed the increase to factors related to fewer traffic stops during the peak pandemic period, and that coming out of it, they have made more and been successful, and reducing the number of guns on the street.

“The department has always trained very carefully on making sure there is a respectful engagement between our officers and the people that we stop,” he said. “This year, there was a new law that was instituted that makes it so that when an officer approaches a car, the first thing he does is tell the person what they’re being stopped for.” From there, Batista said it depends on what the officer observes or hears that would lead the officer to turn it into an investigative stop that may lead to the seizure of a firearm or other stolen goods.

De la Torre was also encouraged by the improved safety in the parking structures and asked the chief to describe the SMPD’s relationship with the private security firm it employs.

The chief noted that for 2023, the department began a partnership with a new security company, Good Guard, and said there were two things that he sees have come about from their work in the structures. “As you saw – fewer calls for service. But the other aspect of that too is that the parking structures are not as dirty as they were before. So, the cleanup efforts that were going on at the parking structures have been impacted positively by that.”

Councilmember Jesse Zwick inquired when the public could expect the Therapeutic Transport Van would begin engaging people in need on the street. The chief admitted that based on experience in similar launches around L.A. County, it takes some time for first responders to get used to the idea that a resource like that is available. However, he expressed confidence that it would work and that in time, the therapeutic team would be responding to calls on their own.

Vice Mayor Lana Negrete inquired whether video taken by SMPD drones has increased the likelihood perpetrators face trial. Batista said they did, citing an assault case where the victim was knocked unconscious, but the drone was able to stay on the trail of the perp as he rode his bike into the downtown area, where he was apprehended.

“How do we compare to the region?” asked Mayor Phil Brock regarding Priority 1 crimes. To which, Batista repeated that Santa Monica is a microcosm of the larger area. He added, “What you hear more is we’ve got this rise in crime. But the data is bearing out that 2023 showed a decrease in most violent crime.”

Brock also asked Batista what we can do to stop the simple assaults that residents increasingly fear could next happen to them. Batista said there is a real opportunity to prevent assaults through interventions by SMPD therapeutic technicians and those who will be staffed on the transport van.

The mayor also requested that the SMPD’s officers who patrol the parks be sure to do so when schools are letting out to give parents and their children a greater feeling of security as they pass by or through the parks.

Readers can view Chief Batista’s PowerPoint presentation here:  https://santamonicacityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1396

Photo by Ben185 on iStockphoto.com