By Jorge Casuso
January 30, 2025 -- A recent report posted by Vivint, a resource for home security, found Santa Monica had one of the highest property crime rates in the country based on FBI crime data.
The city ranked 419 out of the 425 cities with populations of between 50,000 and 100,000 residents based on property crimes reported in 2023, the latest data available.
The rankings are based on the number of reported robberies, or the forced taking of property; larcenies, which include shoplifting, and motor vehicle thefts per 10,000 residents.
Among the 99 California cities that met the population criteria, Santa Monica had the highest larceny rate, with 331.7 incidents per 10,000 residents.
The beach city -- which borders on Los Angeles -- also had the third highest robbery rate in the state, with 27.5 reported incidents per 10,000 residents. The three California cities with higher robbery rates were Huntington Park, San Leandro and Compton.
Santa Monica's rate for motor vehicle theft was 64.7 per 10,000 residents.
When the 2023 crime data was released last February, Police Chief Ramon Batista noted that larceny played "an out-sized role" in driving up the crime rate ("Theft, Assaults Drove Increase in Crime Last Year," February 14, 2024).
"If we could make a dent on the amount of shoplifting and theft, we would be down below" the level of serious crime in 2022, he told the City Council.
The recent Vivint report reflects the findings of previous studies based on FBI crime data that have ranked Santa Monica among the least safe small cities in California, a ranking largely driven by property crime.
One such study, released in 2022 by the safety consulting website, Safewise, prompted a flurry of news stories run by more than a dozen local television stations and news outlets ("Santa Monica Among State's Least Safe Cities, Report Finds," March 24, 2022).
The Police Department issued a statement citing "significant factors" that make the city of 93,000 residents unique ("Police Weigh in on Report Listing Santa Monica Among Least Safe California Cities," April 5, 2022).
"Throughout the day and during peak seasons," the statement noted, "Santa Monica serves as a jobs center and a hub for state, national and international tourism which attracts millions of visitors each year."
The vast number of those arrested for property crimes in Santa Monica -- which is easily accessible by freeway and public transportation -- come from outside the city.
The initial article in The Lookout noted that other well-to-do Westside cities that border on Los Angeles -- including Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Culver City -- also ranked poorly due to a high incidence of reported property crimes.
Those cities were not included in the Vivint report because they have populations of less than 50,000.
Some of the more comparable small cities to Santa Monica that fell below the 200 safest were Santa Cruz (ranked 360 among the 425 cities) Palo Alto (334), Mountain View (319), Brentwood (277), Santa Barbara (221) and Newport Beach (209).
The safest California cities included in the latest report were Yucaipa and Chino Hills, two San Bernardino County cities that were ranked 9 and 10 in the nation, respectively.
The safest city in the nation when it comes to property crime was Columbus, Indiana, while the least safe was San Leandro, California, in the east San Francisco Bay area.
For the full report click HERE
