Residential burglaries dropped below 60 on an annual basis last year in Manteca s for the first time since at least the 1980s.

The 57 residential burglary cases in 2021 came after 2020 numbers dropped to 77. That marked the first time since 1998 the number of residential burglaries dipped below 100.

The peak year for residential burglaries was 2008 with 323.

Overall felony crime in Manteca — after numerically dropping for two straight years — inched back up in 2021.

Part One Crimes, or the 12 more serious crimes classified as felonies that the FBI uses to determine the relative safety of communities, increased in five categories with grand theft leading the way. Grand theft cases jumped 79.9 percent going from 199 cases in 2020 to 358 last year.

Commercial burglary was up 57.14 percent going from 77 cases in2020 to 121 last year. Other jumps saw aggravated assaults going from 112 to 140, rape/unlawful intercourse going from 19 to 30, and other burglaries going from29 to 39.

 The numbers are based on Manteca Police crime statistic released this week. The numbers reflect crimes police handled and those crimes reported to the department.

Vehicle thefts dropped 10.89 percent going from 248 in 2020 to 221 in 2020. It is a far cry from 2005 when thieves were stealing a vehicle in Manteca every 10.9 hours for a record 798 vehicles in one year. That nose bleed number of vehicle thefts included one big rig left idling in front of a Manteca home and a Manteca Police patrol unit.

 Overall felonies increased from 1,505 in 2020 to 1,598 in 2021 for a 6.32 percent increase.

There was one homicide in Manteca in 2021. That came after two consecutive years of three homicides

 You are most likely to be the victim of an auto burglary in Manteca than any other burglary. Even so auto burglaries were down 10.19 percent going from 220 in 2020 to 196 last year.

Law enforcement officials across the nation credit some of the drop in crime to pandemic lockdowns.

 The reason why the crime rate per 1,000 is used by agencies ranging from the FBI to local police departments is simple — raw numbers for crime don’t provide the perspective of an increase in the number of potential victims.

The crime per 1,000 takes into account population growth to put numeric increases or decreases into perspective for an apple to apple comparison in terms of overall burglaries and felonies. It is why it is the matrix the FBI uses to determine crime rates and the relative safety of communities.

Manteca in 2020 had a crime rate of 18.3 crimes per 1,000 based on 1,598 felonies and a population of 87,000.

That compares to 23.2 crimes per 1,000 in 2019 based on 1,998 felonies and 84,800 residents.

Once you factor in population, crime had been on a steady downward trend since 2015 when it was 32.1 crimes per 1,000. The increase last year stopped that trend although the crime rate per 1,000 is roughly 40 percent lower than it was six years ago.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com