Crime & Safety

Berkeley Pedestrian Robberies Jump 35% This Year

Robberies of pedestrians in Berkeley – led by nighttime cell phone robberies of people walking alone – increased 35 percent for the first half of this year over the same period last year, police said in a crime report to the City Council.

Serious crime in Berkeley for the first six months of this year is up slightly overall from the same period last year, with significant increases in pedestrian robbery, burglary and arson, according to the Berkeley Police Department.

The most striking increase is a 35-percent jump in robberies of pedestrians, led by cell phone robberies at night, according to the department's Mid-Year 2013 Crime Report from Police Chief Michael Meehan.


"Smartphone robberies from lone pedestrians at night comprise the largest number of robbery occurrences in Berkeley," the report says. "As a result, pedestrian robberies increased by 35%. While there was a 44% decrease in commercial robberies, the increase in pedestrian robberies drove the overall Part One Violent Crime rate up by 15.8% as compared to last year." 

The overall increase in serious crimes – including violent and non-violent property offenses combined – was 0.4 percent, the report says.

The report will be presented at a special 5:30 p.m. work session of the City Council Tuesday.

The statistics are line with the trend that Meehan discussed in an interview with Patch published last month, "Serious Crime Rising in Berkeley, Chief Says."

The number of rapes and aggravated assaults remained steady, while auto thefts unexpectedly dropped.

The increase in serious, "Part 1" crime was in line with preliminary data suggesting an increase regionally, the report says.

However the drop in auto thefts came in sharp contrast to the trend in other jurisdictions.

"Auto theft rates in Berkeley defied local and state trends, decreasing by 8.1%, as compared to a 16% increase in Alameda County, and a 4% increase statewide in the first six months of 2013," the report says.

Part 1 offenses – compiled in the FBI's Uniform Crime reports – fall into two categories: violent crimes and property crimes. The vast majority of such crimes in Berkeley are property crimes. 

The four Part 1 violent crimes are:
1. Murder
2. Rape
3. Robbery
4. Aggravated assault

The four Part 1 property crimes are:
5. Burglary 
6. Larceny (petty theft, grand theft, auto burglary)
7. Auto theft
8. Arson 

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