San Francisco, Oakland, BART report that crime is down

SAN FRANCISCO - New crime numbers from the San Francisco Police Department shows all crime categories are lower compared to last year.

Police Chief Bill Scott talked about these trends at a police commission meeting on Wednesday night.

Property crimes are down 34% and car burglaries are down by more than 50% from this time last year. The homicide rate is the lowest it's been in five years, with 25 homicides this year compared to 42 at this time last year.

The chief credits a $15 million grant aimed at combating retail theft for some of the successes. 

"There was a series of blitz operations this past week that resulted in 17 arrests of retail theft suspects, some organized," Scott told the commissioners. 

Oakland's crime rate is also lower – even though the city missed out on a retail theft grant. 

Police Chief Floyd Mitchell credits some of Oakland's crime decreases to the city's Ceasefire program that targets the repeat offenders and offers at-risk community members social services as well. 

Oakland has seen a nearly 30% drop in homicides this year compared to last year. 

Mitchell added that the number of aggravated assaults is down 14%, as are rapes and sexual assaults. Robberies are down 24%.

On Wednesday, BART police reported that overall crime is down 15% compared to last year, which includes a violent crime decrease of about 10%.