Property crime increased in Petaluma last year while violent crime - still fairly rare in the county's second-largest city - remained steady, according to year-end statistics provided by the Police Department.
Overall, the "part one crimes," those federal authorities deem most serious, rose by about 20 percent from 2012 to 2013. Those include homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, auto theft and arson.
Petaluma had no homicides last year and reported rapes fell from 25 to 17, but increases in reported assaults, nonviolent thefts and auto thefts caused a rise in the total figures.
Still, while some crimes have risen year-over-year, in many categories Petaluma's crime rate - the number of crimes per capita - is generally well below record rates in the 1990s, according to data compiled by the FBI dating to 1985.
The total property crime rate last year, calculated at crimes per 100,000 population, was about 20 percent above 2012, but less than 40 percent of the rates reached in 1985 and 1997, according to the FBI.
"It's still a safe place to live," Lt. Tim Lyons said. "There were no big increases in violent crime."
Petaluma police say many of the recent property crimes are believed to be at the hands of former inmates who have been released early or placed under local supervision instead of state parole agents as part of the state prison realignment program.
There are no statistics that directly prove it, Lyons said, but his officers have arrested perhaps 20 to 30 suspects that returned to Petaluma under the "post-release community supervision" program. The realignment program is an effort to deal with prison crowding.
Simple thefts rose from 622 in 2012 to 783 in 2013 and motor vehicle theft from 51 in 2012 to 76 in 2013. Aggravated assaults increased from 112 in 2012 to 130 last year.
Lyons said Petaluma has seen mini-trends over the past couple years of "roving bands" of criminals, often from the East Bay, that commit crimes a convenient freeway drive from their home bases.
"We've had people from outside the area come in and commit burglaries and drug rip-offs, and when we focus enforcement, they'll move on," he said.
Last month there were several reports of burglaries where front doors were kicked in and homes ransacked. Last year, there were several residential burglaries reported in West Petaluma, Lyons said.
"A lot of this stuff we've traced to the East Bay or greater Bay Area," he said.
Total calls to police for service increased from 52,749 in 2012 to 53,983 last year.
The number of arrests declined by 6 percent, from 2,384 to 2,233, with the biggest decrease seen in the number of juveniles arrested.
Alcohol was involved in 493, or 22 percent, of all arrests.
Traffic citations decreased from 6,011 in 2012 to 4,850 in 2013 while traffic collisions increased from 718 in 2012 to 766.
Lyons attributed the decrease in arrests and tickets issued to having fewer officers on the streets as a result of budget cuts, 62 last year compared to a high of 77 officers in 2009. He said the numbers show a correlation between stricter traffic enforcement and safer streets.
Having officers more visible, too, he said, can deter property crimes because the "roving bands" may decide it's unsafe to commit crimes if they see squad cars patrolling.
The East Washington Place shopping center and a new 81-unit affordable housing complex on East Washington Street were hotspots, Lyons said.
There were 339 calls for service to the shopping center last year, which was only opened since summer. Nearly half, 143, were calls for incidents at Target, mostly shoplifting, theft and fraud reports, he said.
The housing development generated 109 calls in 2013.
He said the outlet mall on the north end of town also showed a bump in crime when it first opened, he said, but it's not as convenient to potential criminals as is Target, which is adjacent to Highway 101.
(You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.)
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