Southern California crime appears to slow amid coronavirus stay-at-home order

Most business doors were shuttered. Few cars were on the road and even fewer people were out on the streets.

The way of life drastically changed last week, since California ordered many of its businesses to close and urged its residents to stay at home amid concerns of spreading the new coronavirus. The new landscape has altered how many law enforcement agencies police, including increased street patrols and how officers interact with the public.

Another trend appears to be that crime is slowing down.

“It’s been a serious decline, we haven’t had anybody in custody for the past few days,” Gardena police Sgt. Gonsalves said Monday. “Usually, we get at least a couple.”

“Even the people committing the crimes are staying in,” he said.

Although it’s too early to analyze hard figures for crime statistics since the coronavirus altered the nation’s usual way of life, anecdotally, many public agencies in Southern California agree: they seem to be getting fewer calls. Some officials said the rainy and cold weather may be a factor also.

“It’s a lot harder to be a burglar when everyone is home,” quipped Anaheim police Sgt. Shane Carringer.

In Orange County’s most populous city things appeared to be slowing down. The major venues like Disneyland and Angel Stadium have shuttered, freeing up officers who typically staff them.

“If anything we have more bodies at our disposal,” Carringer said.

Agencies are also receiving different types of calls.

“We’re still getting kind of a similar volume of calls, but the nature of the calls are going to change because a lot more people are home,” Hermosa Beach police Sgt. Mick Gaglia said.

For example, Gaglia said, there’s been an uptick in reports of noise disturbances or arguments.

In Brea, day-to-day traffic calls are down, as are reports of people loitering near businesses, Lt. Tim Mercado said.

“Those (service) calls that have stopped coming have been replaced by people looking for information and those making observations of things in their communities,” Mercado said.

“They tell us ‘Oh I see people hanging around the park,’” Mercado said.

Other agencies have also reported an increase in residents reporting crowds, a no-no as the country fights to stave off coronavirus.

The lieutenant said it’s good to see people appearing to take the stay at home orders seriously.

“There’s a tremendous amount of incentive…no one wants to get sick,” he said.

In the Palos Verdes Peninsula area, folks are also calling authorities when they see people gathering near beaches and trails, said Lt. Robert Weber of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lomita Station. Deputies who respond to those calls advise folks of the social distancing guidelines, he said.

“Because so many people have been off (of work),” Weber said, “we’ve got a lot of people coming up here and not necessarily following the separation part of these orders. We’re getting a lot of questions.”

In the past couple of days, West Covina police  Lt. Keith Shishido said he noticed an increase in disturbance calls involving families. But he doesn’t know if that’s due to people being at home getting on each other’s nerves.

In Pasadena, the Police Department has even received calls about people holding hands on the streets.

“We told them we would not respond to that,” Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema said. “We are certainly aware of the issues, but there are limits to what we can respond to. If we responded to (calls of) everyone holding hands, we would be overwhelmed.”

But officials are worried about other types of crime increasing as time goes on.

“We’re very concerned about people getting depressed and taking it out on other people,” Hettema said.

So far, there hasn’t been an increase of domestic violence or assault calls, Hettema said.

In the San Fernando Valley, officers across the area were out in big numbers, with detectives, senior lead officers and some administrative staff assigned to patrol duties, said Commander Alan Hamilton, the Valley Bureau’s second in command. Most of those officers have been reassigned to patrol the Valley’s retail centers where residents are still showing up in big numbers to shop.

Arrests are down, he said, but they’re still happening

“Crime continues…crimes of opportunity are what are killing us right now,” Hamilton said, referring to car break-ins. “Violent crime is decreasing, but there are still violent crimes occurring.”

For Inland counties, which haven’t yet seen as many cases of COVID-19 as Los Angeles and Orange counties, law enforcement officials said it’s too early to tell if there have been changes in the kinds of crimes being reported due to coronavirus-related orders affecting businesses such as sit-down restaurants, and social gatherings.

“We are in the infant stages of the changes that have been made in our communities,” San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department  spokeswoman Jodi Miller said.

In Riverside County, “There has been an increase in call volume in regards to COVID-19,” Sheriff’s Department Deputy Robyn Flores said. Those callers are directed to (county) Public Health or Environmental Health departments, or the Centers for Disease Control, she said.

In Long Beach, the Police Department declined to comment on recent crime trends, due to the “overlapping factors that affect crime,” said Officer Ivan Garcia, spokesman for the agency.

And while things may have slowed down for some agencies, others dealt with serious incidents recently including two homicides over the weekend in Moreno Valley, one in Jurupa Valley and one in Santa Ana.

Staff writers Josh Cain and Richard De Atley contributed to this report.

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