Modesto and Stockton are consistently among the Top 5 cities in the United States for vehicle theft.
Caught in between them are Ripon and Manteca.
In 2006, Ripon had 13 vehicle thefts. Manteca had 671. Ripon for 2010 will come in below their 2006 number. Manteca is on pace for about 350 vehicle thefts based on complied stats through October.
Auto burglaries are also striking. Ripon had 10 in all of 2010. Manteca has had 345 through the end of October.
Why the big difference? Layoffs aside since that wasn’t an issue in 2006, it isn’t a question of professionalism and dedication on the part of officers. Far from it.
Manteca’s location is a blessing and a curse. The central location with easy freeway access that appeals to distribution centers and others is also makes it perfect to do business for vehicle thieves especially when you add the unique major road/street grid pattern that blends into the county on three sides of Manteca. It is a nice pattern that has escape routes a mile apart on top of extremely easy freeway access.
They can also go west into Lathrop and get lost in streets or make a beeline for Interstate 5.
In Ripon, there are just two exits on the freeway plus only one real escape route to the west and one to the east plus two to the north. The City Council assured there wouldn’t be another one to the south save for Highway 99 when Ripon squashed a proposal to build a bridge crossing into Stanislaus County to the west of the freeway.
While Manteca is more like a sieve and Ripon a bit more secure thanks to its limited road system, there are several things that Ripon has done to make their community a less pleasant place for criminals to operate.
They have a program in place where police officers that live in Ripon take their marked police vehicles home with them after work. What it does is create a major presence of patrol cars around Ripon with the added advantage of officers being able to respond en masse in a major emergency. That happened a few years back when a man tried to shoot his way into the police department late at night forcing dispatchers to take cover.
It’s not by accident that a large number of Ripon’s officers live in the community. The city encourages officers to do so by offering them a loan program that made it easier for them to take on a mortgage.
Ripon currently isn’t expanding its patrol vehicle take home program or mortgage assistance for police officers due to the budget situation.
Another big advantage is the wireless camera system that Ripon has throughout the city that allows dispatchers - as well as officers in patrol vehicles- to see real time footage of criminal suspects fleeing and the routes they are taking.
It has proven effective in collaring a bank robbery suspect as well as quickly identifying stolen vehicles.
Obviously the smaller a city and the less “escape” routes they have, the more feasible it is to put in place such a system. Ripon did have help from Motorola that essentially used Ripon as a demonstration city for the system.
Manteca does have a license plate scanner capable of reading dozens of plates in a matter of a few seconds and comparing them with the DMV data base on stolen vehicles. The scanner is mounted on a patrol unit.
In the future, major retail centers such as Orchard Valley should be required to install such scanners at all of the entrances to their parking lots. That way when a stolen vehicle enters the parking lot, police can be alerted instantly electronically. It is to the advantage for retail tenants since those in stolen vehicles tend to commit other crimes such as shoplifting. The shoplifting losses at Kohl’s and JC Penney in 2009 alone were in excess of $800,000. Such a system would pay for itself.
When things get better Manteca leaders should give serious thought to the police housing loan program to get officers to buy and live in Manteca, requiring license plate scanners in high traffic centers with regional draws and consider investing in enough police units to let officers take patrol vehicles home with them if they live in Manteca.
Manteca has done a decedent job fighting crime but even with overall drops it is still way too much to tolerate.
Manteca shouldn’t be happy until they reach Ripon’s level.
Caught in between them are Ripon and Manteca.
In 2006, Ripon had 13 vehicle thefts. Manteca had 671. Ripon for 2010 will come in below their 2006 number. Manteca is on pace for about 350 vehicle thefts based on complied stats through October.
Auto burglaries are also striking. Ripon had 10 in all of 2010. Manteca has had 345 through the end of October.
Why the big difference? Layoffs aside since that wasn’t an issue in 2006, it isn’t a question of professionalism and dedication on the part of officers. Far from it.
Manteca’s location is a blessing and a curse. The central location with easy freeway access that appeals to distribution centers and others is also makes it perfect to do business for vehicle thieves especially when you add the unique major road/street grid pattern that blends into the county on three sides of Manteca. It is a nice pattern that has escape routes a mile apart on top of extremely easy freeway access.
They can also go west into Lathrop and get lost in streets or make a beeline for Interstate 5.
In Ripon, there are just two exits on the freeway plus only one real escape route to the west and one to the east plus two to the north. The City Council assured there wouldn’t be another one to the south save for Highway 99 when Ripon squashed a proposal to build a bridge crossing into Stanislaus County to the west of the freeway.
While Manteca is more like a sieve and Ripon a bit more secure thanks to its limited road system, there are several things that Ripon has done to make their community a less pleasant place for criminals to operate.
They have a program in place where police officers that live in Ripon take their marked police vehicles home with them after work. What it does is create a major presence of patrol cars around Ripon with the added advantage of officers being able to respond en masse in a major emergency. That happened a few years back when a man tried to shoot his way into the police department late at night forcing dispatchers to take cover.
It’s not by accident that a large number of Ripon’s officers live in the community. The city encourages officers to do so by offering them a loan program that made it easier for them to take on a mortgage.
Ripon currently isn’t expanding its patrol vehicle take home program or mortgage assistance for police officers due to the budget situation.
Another big advantage is the wireless camera system that Ripon has throughout the city that allows dispatchers - as well as officers in patrol vehicles- to see real time footage of criminal suspects fleeing and the routes they are taking.
It has proven effective in collaring a bank robbery suspect as well as quickly identifying stolen vehicles.
Obviously the smaller a city and the less “escape” routes they have, the more feasible it is to put in place such a system. Ripon did have help from Motorola that essentially used Ripon as a demonstration city for the system.
Manteca does have a license plate scanner capable of reading dozens of plates in a matter of a few seconds and comparing them with the DMV data base on stolen vehicles. The scanner is mounted on a patrol unit.
In the future, major retail centers such as Orchard Valley should be required to install such scanners at all of the entrances to their parking lots. That way when a stolen vehicle enters the parking lot, police can be alerted instantly electronically. It is to the advantage for retail tenants since those in stolen vehicles tend to commit other crimes such as shoplifting. The shoplifting losses at Kohl’s and JC Penney in 2009 alone were in excess of $800,000. Such a system would pay for itself.
When things get better Manteca leaders should give serious thought to the police housing loan program to get officers to buy and live in Manteca, requiring license plate scanners in high traffic centers with regional draws and consider investing in enough police units to let officers take patrol vehicles home with them if they live in Manteca.
Manteca has done a decedent job fighting crime but even with overall drops it is still way too much to tolerate.
Manteca shouldn’t be happy until they reach Ripon’s level.
