The month-long social distancing lockdown in April sent crime in Manteca into an unprecedented tailspin.

Overall, the 13 categories of felonies dropped 50.45 percent and burglaries as a subgroup fell 54.67 percent last month compared to April of 2019. At the same time all misdemeanors plunged 49.66 percent including misdemeanor thefts that fell 43.34 percent.

The only categories of crime that increased in April were aggravated assault that was up 16.67 percent and vehicle theft that increased 5 percent.

The accumulative effect of 2½ weeks in March and the entire month of April being in lockdown saw felonies in the first four months of this year compared to the January-April period of 2019 down 33.43 percent, all burglaries down 30.98 percent, misdemeanor thefts down 1.12 percent, and all misdemeanors down 17.16 percent. Even vehicle thefts are down 39.1 percent with 81 vehicles stolen in the first four months of the year compared to 133 for the same period last year.

In raw numbers, there were 25 burglaries in all categories in April of this year compared to 79 in April 2019.

The fact people are staying home has helped drive down felonies and the fact most stores were closed eliminated almost all shoplifting.

 Other offenses that include domestic violence dropped 58.96 percent in April and 36.08 percent for the first four months.

Fraud took the biggest plunge in the grouping of “miscellaneous offenses” going from 40 cases in April 2019 to 14 last month.

Even non-criminal reports and services have dropped substantially in April to April comparisons. Non-criminal reports were down 26.44 percent, service requests down 16.66 percent, written reports down 24.81 percent, criminal complaint requests down 20.12 percent, and warrants served down 48.56 percent.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com