Author: Emily Bell
Violent crimes in Eagle Rock have risen significantly during the month of November, according to the LA Times. There were four violent crimes and 15 property crimes in the area during the week of Nov. 4-10, a contrast to the average of 0.7 violent crimes and 12.5 property crimes per week during the past three months.
Occidental was indirectly involved in one reported violent
crime when three victims fled to the college’s campus on Nov. 4.
The victims were non-students who flagged down a
Campus Safety officer as they ran along AGC road, according to Director of Campus Safety Holly Nieto. The incident occurred
at 5 p.m. on the Sunday evening. Two of the males were missing their
pants and bleeding from cuts on their faces. The officer called
paramedics and LAPD was notified. The men claim to have been attacked by
a group in the park.
“We believe it is a group of
four or five, no real description of them. White shirt, dark pants. Not
enough that we can put out anything meaningful. They may have been 20 to
30 years of age,” Nieto said.
Nieto attempted to explain the recent increase in crime, while also predicting that the rate would soon drop. “We’ve had a long summer, good weather; people are out longer, looking for things to do and that means criminals are out too,” she said. “I’m expecting that [the crime rate] will probably take a downtick because LAPD is putting a lot of resources into reducing this crime; suppressing it. And it’s cold out now at night; nobody wants to be out in the cold.”
In addition to the violence in Yosemite Park, other areas frequented by students have also seen violent crime this month. At the intersection of York Boulevard and Avenue 46, near the restaurant Thai Eagle Rox, a case of aggravated assault was reported on Nov. 18.
Crimes in the Eagle Rock area generally involve property theft. Grand Theft Auto is one of the most commonly reported crimes, in addition to theft from a vehicle. There were five Grand Thefts and three ‘theft from vehicle’ incidents reported for the week of Nov. 11-17 in addition to four other thefts and one violent crime. Totaling 12 property crimes and one violent crime, these recent numbers are not far from the average from past months.
“Property crimes always go up at the holiday seasons,” Nieto said. “People have gifts in their homes so we want to make sure that they lock their residence when they leave, that they lock their car when they have things in it and that they stow things out of sight in their car. Burglary theft from a motor vehicle is the biggest crime in our area.”
The week of Nov. 4-10 marked the peak of violent crimes during the weeks of November, but Nieto does not see the apparent surge in crime as abnormal.
“I’m not overly concerned about it. Am I always concerned about crime in the area? Absolutely. Do we work hard to keep our crime statistics as low as possible by preventing it? Absolutely,” Nieto said.
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