SLO makes top 10 crime surging list

February 12, 2015

gunWhile crime rates in the United States have been dropping for two decades, in the past five years the San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles area has recorded a 48.3 percent increase in violent crime. [24/7 Wall St.]

Between 1991 and 2013, violent crime in the United States – which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – fell by nearly 52 percent. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bismarck, North Dakota had the greatest increase of violent crime with a rate that grew by nearly 160 percent — from 222.1 cases per 100,000 people in 2009 to 575.5 in 2013.

The San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles area was ranked sixth with a 48.3 percent increase in violent crime over five years. In 2009, the area had 260.5 violent crimes per 100,000 residents which soared to 386.5 per 100,000 people in 2013.

The increase in the San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles violent crime rate was driven primarily by an increase in aggravated assaults, which grew by nearly 71 percent between 2009 and 2013 to 316.8 per 100,000 residents. Other types of violent crimes did not have a notable increase over the same period of time.


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I am sure many factors play a role in this statistical rise in crime. I see many more people I can only describe as “thugs” walking around downtown SLO. 10 years ago there were none, but So Cal has finally slithered into SLO County and now we will see more reports of crimes in our county that a decade ago we would have only read about in the Los Angeles Times. Add to this the apparent apathy on the part of our police officers who seem to be afraid of getting in trouble with their own agency if they use any type of aggressive policing tactics or use of force on a suspect and you had a perfect storm of criminals entering our community and police officers simply looking the other way.

I am not advocating a police state, however it is apparent to me that an atmosphere exists where the police officers are engaging in busy work like writing citations, instead of actually stopping and dealing with shady characters before they do someone harm.


Are the five SLOPD officers arrested by the FBI included in these surging crime statistics?