Violent crimes rise 5 percent in Roseville

By Art Campos - acampos@sacbee.com

Violent crimes in Roseville increased by 5 percent in 2007, the city reported.

The statistics, taken from the California Department of Justice, showed that homicide and robberies decreased. However, rapes and aggravated assaults went up, said Dee Dee Gunther, a Roseville police spokeswoman.

She said homicides decreased by 33 percent, from three in 2006 to two in 2007, and that robberies went down by 25 percent, from 134 to 100.

Rapes increased by 35 percent, from 23 to 31, she said. Aggravated assaults went up 21 percent, from 217 to 262, she said.

Also increasing in Roseville were the number of property crimes, Gunther said. The city saw a 2 percent rise, she said.

Burglaries were up 10 percent, she said. The breakdown reflected a sharp increase in residential burglaries, 28 percent, and a decrease in commercial burglaries, 12 percent, she said.

Incidents of larceny, which includes shoplifting and vehicle break-ins, went up by 7 percent, Gunther said. Shoplifting reflected a big increase at 48 percent, she said, while the vehicle break-ins showed a decrease of 6 percent.

Stolen cars were down by about 30 percent, or 574 incidents to 407, she said.

Gunther said it is difficult to identify patterns in the violent crimes or the property incidents.

"Every year, it goes up in some categories and down in the others," she said. "One year, the thieves are hitting cars, and the next year they're breaking into houses."

She said Roseville's population showed a 1.2 percent increase from January 2006 to January 2007.