During the past year, the City of La Mirada again experienced one of the region’s lowest crime rates and remained among the safest cities in Los Angeles County according to the city’s recently released 2021 Crime Report. The City’s low crime rate is attributed to a strong partnership between residents, businesses, and the Public Safety Team. This partnership fosters a well-coordinated team approach to fighting crime.
Part 1 Crimes
La Mirada continues to have one of the lowest crime rates in the area with fewer calls for service and generally less crime activity. Part 1 crimes include homicide, rape, larceny, burglary, automobile theft, robbery, assault, and arson. Part 1 crimes reported in neighboring communities for the last two years are shown below (no 2021 crime data available for Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, and Brea):
In 2021, there were 813 Part 1 crimes reported in La Mirada compared to 793 reported in 2020. There were 168 crimes reported per 10,000 residents in 2021, which meets the City’s goal of fewer than 200 crimes per 10,000 residents. The majority of Part 1 crimes in 2021 were property crimes. Of the 813 Part 1 crimes reported in La Mirada, 757 were property crimes. This amounts to 93% of Part 1 crimes reported in 2021. Crimes against persons dropped from 67 incidents in 2020 to 56 in 2021.
Here are a few highlights:
- Homicide – There were no homicides reported in 2021.
- Rape – There were 12 rape incidents reported in 2021. The 12 incidents were allegedly perpetrated by acquaintances or family members.
- Larceny – Larceny is defined as theft including grand and petty cases. Overall, there were 471 larceny cases in 2021 compared to 446 in 2020. This increase can be partly attributed to the 112 catalytic converters taken from vehicles last year. This represents 57 percent of the 197 reported grand thefts. While the number of grand thefts increased last year, thefts from vehicles decreased slightly from 129 cases reported in 2020 to 115 in 2021. The number of petty theft cases also decreased from 193 cases in 2020 to 159 cases in 2021.
- Burglary – In 2021, there were 88 burglary incidents reported compared to 105 in 2020. Of the 88 burglaries reported, 35 were residential burglaries compared to 34 residential burglaries in 2020. Overall, the number of residential burglaries has remained low the last two years. Since most residential burglaries occur during the day when nobody is home, it is speculated that the COVID pandemic may have contributed to the decrease in burglaries because more residents were home.
- Automobile Theft – Automobile thefts increased in La Mirada from 147 in 2020 to 173 in 2021. It should be noted that many Southern California cities experienced increases in automobile thefts in 2021. The industrial area experienced the largest number of auto theft incidents with 40 reported. To help address the increase in automobile thefts, the Public Safety Team reviewed crime trends regarding grand theft automobiles and developed missions to decrease the activity. This will continue to be an area of focus in 2022.
- Robbery is defined as taking property by use of force or fear. In 2021, there were 23 robberies reported compared to 26 robberies in 2020. Most of the reported robberies occurred at business establishments. Of the 12 robberies involving weapons, six of the suspects were eventually arrested.
- Assault – Assault statistics are measured by the number of victims involved in an incident and not by the actual number of assault incidents. There were 44 assaults reported in 2021 compared to 60 assaults in 2020, a 27 percent decrease. A majority of the assaults are domestic assaults or involve persons known to the victims.
- Arson – La Mirada experienced two arson cases in 2021 and 2020.
Part 2 Crimes
Part 2 crimes include forgery, fraud, sex offenses, non-aggravated assaults, weapons violations, alcohol and narcotics offenses, disorderly conduct, vandalism, vehicle code violations, and receiving stolen property. The total number of Part 2 crimes was 1,039 in 2021 compared to 1,113 reported in 2020.
Summary
Last year, La Mirada experienced the lowest number of Part 1 crimes of communities in southeast Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. According to SafeWise, La Mirada was the 38th Safest City in California. Violent crimes remained low and crimes against persons decreased from 67 in 2020 to 56 in 2021. The number of reported burglaries, robberies, and assaults decreased from 2020.
Click here for more detailed information from the 6-page 2021 Annual Crime Report.
Source: City of La Mirada