Serious crime per 1,000 — the yardstick the FBI uses to provide apple to apple crime comparisons on an annual basis — was down ever so slightly in Manteca during 2016.
Part One crime offenses — 12 felonies that run the gamut from murder and assault to burglary and robbery — was at 2,032 in raw numbers for 2016 compared to 2,004 in 2015. Given that Manteca grew by 1,000 residents last year the serious crime per 1,000 was at 36.909 per 1,000 in 2016 down ever so slightly from 36.926 per 1,000 in 2015.
In essence serious crime per 1,000 did not change.
Serious crime per 1,000 residents has been on a downward path since 2005 when the rate was 40.72 Part 1 crimes per 1,000 residents. Manteca had 61,809 residents in 2005 compared to 75,000 in 2016.
Half of the Part 1 categories involving felonies were up last year and half were down.
All burglaries were up in raw numbers for the second straight year climbing 8.63 percent after jumping 21.58 percent in 2015. The overall burglaries — auto, residential, commercial, and others — came to a combined 869 in 2016 and 800 in 2015. That compares to 1,146 in 2007 the farthest back the Bulletin has tracked every category of crime reported by the Manteca Police Department.
Burglaries — auto, residential and commercial — were down 31.74 percent in 2014 from 2013. They dropped from 964 in 2013 to 658 in 2014. They had spiked upward in 2011 and 2012 reaching 1,101 and 1,017 respectively after recording only 800 in 2010. 
Auto burglaries numbered 713 in 2007, 380 in 2015, and 554 in 2016. The jump from 2015 to 2016 was 45.9 percent accounting for the highest jump in all burglary categories.
Residential burglaries are down 36.11 percent going from 252 in 2015 to 161 in 2016. There were 232 residential burglaries in 2007.
Commercial burglaries also dropped going from 129 in 2015 to 109 in 2016 for a fall off of 15.5 percent. There were 160 residential burglaries in 2007.
Aggravated assaults — the category where gang violence falls —  was up 15.58 percent last year with 89 incidents compared to 77 in 2015.
Homicides dropped from 5 in 2015 to 1 in 2016 while rape went from 18 in 2015 to 32 in 2016.
Vehicle theft dropped from 406 in 2015 to 365 last year for a 10.1 percent decrease. That is significantly below the peak of 798 auto thefts in 2004.
Arsons went from 20 in 2016 to 13 in 2015.
Overall misdemeanors were up 6.27 percent going from 3,112 in 2016 to 3,307 in 2015. Misdemeanor thefts jumped 14.29 percent going from 1,113 offenses in 2015 to 1,272 in 2016.
The overall value pf property stolen dropped by 3.1 percent going from $4,769,510 in 2015 to $4,626,006 in 2016. The value of property recovered jumped slightly by 1.05 percent to $2,049,639 last year.
In 2015 — the last per 1,000 stats available from the FBI for cities 50,000 to 100,000 residents— shows Manteca is
uslightly above California and the United States for burglary and motor vehicle theft.
uhalf the national rate as well as being below the California rate for murder and aggravated assault.
usignificantly below the United States and California for violent crime less rape.
umatches the United States rate for property crime but is above the California rate.
Manteca has 0.9 officers per 1,000 residents while San Francisco and Los Angeles have 2.9 officers per 1,000 residents. Stockton has 1.17, Modesto has 1.06, and Turlock has 1.12 officers per 1,000 residents

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com