Santa Cruz Police Set Record for Calls for Service in 2012

Santa Cruz Police set a record for the number of calls for service in 2012 and saw arrests increase 53 percent in a year and citations go up 32 percent.

There were 104,946 calls for service in 2012 compared to 90,484 in 2011, an increase of 16 percent. There were 11,432 crime reports made, a 3 percent increase and 1,809 reports of lesser crimes filed online, up 39 percent.

Some 8,357 people were arrested in 2012 versus 5,439 in 2011 and 11,367 people were cited for lesser crimes, up 32 percent over the previous year.

By district, most of the calls came from the center of Santa Cruz, not including the downtown, where there were 36,130 calls for service, or 34 percent of the total. Next was East Santa Cruz with 23,064 calls for service, or 22 percent, followed by West Santa Cruz with 19,992 or 19 percent.

Downtown had 8,192 calls for service, or 8 percent of the calls and the beach area had 11 percent or 11,850 calls.

The 88-officer department, which serves a population of 59,000 people  stilll has openings for six more officers, but Chief Kevin Vogel said he hasn't been able to find qualified candidates for the jobs. The department supplements its patrol staff by paying private security guards from First Alarm to help patrol downtown and the Harvey West Park area.

In a press release, the department said in the next year it will roll out improved crime mapping and tip texting programs.