Altadena Crime Declines Sharply in First Half of Year

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department released its crime statistics for the first six months of 2011, and the has shown massive improvement in curbing crime compared to the first six months of 2010.

Crime is down in every category except for "forcible rape," where there have been five crimes so far this year compared to three in the same period in 2010.

The biggest turnaround has come in property crimes: The town has seen a decrease of more than 40 percent from this time last year.  The first six months of 2010 were a bad time for property crime in Altadena, with the town having one of the worst rates of property crime in the county. 

Perhaps more notably, the property crime rate is 25 percent lower than the first six months of 2006. 

Crime rates are also well below the county average: around 68 per 10,000 people, compared to about 115 for the county.  Last year, Altadena was above average.

Altadena has also seen a decrease of almost 15 percent in violent crime, though the gives the town one homicide so far this year compared to zero in all of 2010.  So far this year, Altadena has had about 14 violent crimes per 10,000 people, compared to about 25 for the county as a whole.

The decrease in crime coincides strongly with the arrival of a new captain at the Altadena Station, Steve McLean.  There have been about the department since his tenure as well, however.

The full crime statistics can be viewed at right.