Crime rates in Ripon through the first three months of 2022 were relatively close to where they were the previous year according to data released this month from the Ripon Police Department.

According to a release from the agency, the city saw one less Part 1 crime – homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, grand theft, and arson, all of which are reported to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Index – through the end of March this year than they did in 2021.

The largest categorial decrease, according to the agency, was in simple assaults – Ripon saw seven less through the first three months of this year compared to last year – while there were six more thefts compared to the same timeframe the previous year.

Ripon has not had a criminal homicide in nearly 20 years – a streak that was nearly broken last year when a 30-year-old Manteca man was arrested for attempted murder after a shooting on Milgeo Avenue. Kevin Lawrence Jones has been in custody at the San Joaquin County Jail since October for the shooting, and isn’t expected back in court until June.

While the COVID-19 pandemic skewed data across the spectrum, including crime statistics, Ripon’s 2021 crime totals were slightly elevated compared to the last full year of data before the onset of the pandemic.

But even though some categories saw increases, things like vehicle theft, burglary, and larceny – also known as simple theft – were down in 2021 compared to the 2019 calendar year. Even with the six additional instances of theft through March of this year compared to last year, Ripon is still below where the city was in 2020 and subsequent years.

Every month the Ripon Police release a map with plots for each of the Type 1 crime categories that were recorded over the previous 30 days – giving residents a chance to see up-to-date crime information and where it is happening in the community.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.