Violent Crime Down 13 Percent in Santa Cruz Last Year

Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel says he thinks the drop is the result of a number of initiatives the department has taken.

One is the PRIDE program, which reaches out to youth and tries to prevent kids from joining gangs. Another is the predictive policing police are using to predict where property crimes might occur.

"I think having extra patrols in hot spot areas has helped," Vogel said.

The third is the countywide Gang Task Force started a year ago that has been successful in getting some of the most violent criminals off the streets.

                    2010                  2011             % Change
Homicide         6                       1                    -83%
Rape              31                      24                  -23%
Robbery        120                    113                 -6%
Agg. Assault  396                    343                 -13%