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Property crimes drop in Lathrop
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You’re statistically more likely to get your car stolen in the spring and in the fall if you live in Lathrop.

And if the crime statistics for the first six months of 2015 is any indication, you’re less likely to get your car stolen today than you were last year.

According to the semi-annual report released by Lathrop Police Services, auto theft for the first seven months of the year is down 45 percent from where it was at the same point last year – there were 60 cases documented from January through July in 2014 and only 33 so far this year.

Other property crimes are also at a much lower point than they were during the same stretch last year.

In 2014 there were 168 burglaries reported through July and only 111 so far this year – a 33 percent decline. And property crime as a whole is down in the city. Last year there were 437 property crimes through the first seven months of the year and only 320 listed this year – a 26 percent decrease.

Violent crimes appear to be holding steady. In both 2014 and 2015 there were 31 violent crimes reported through July – the only statistic that lines up evenly and on par with what transpired the previous year. And statistically violent crime deceased significantly in the second half of last year, dropping down to only 13 cases – a 58 percent decline – from the months of August through December.

Assault declined 11 percent during the first seven months of the year as compared to last year – 16 cases in 2015 as compared to 18 cases the previous year – while robbery increased 21 percent so far in 2015, with 14 cases during a span when only 11 cases were reported in 2014.

Last year Lathrop Police added a pair of community impact deputies – who mainly work gang and drug cases – as well as a supervising sergeant and a school resource officer, restoring positions that were cut when the city was facing a massive budget shortage. Those positions were and are still funded by Measure C – the one-cent sales tax increase passed by voters in 2012 to fund community services as well as police and fire coverage that was cut during the budget crunch.