South El Monte officials received two monthly operational briefings at the June 17 council meeting: a sheriff’s department presentation on Part I crimes for May and a combined code-enforcement/public-safety report covering April and May.

A sheriff’s presenter summarized Part I crime categories (homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, theft, grand theft auto and arson) and told the council that overall the year-to-date trend remains down compared with previous years. The sheriff’s presenter said the department recently made multiple arrests tied to burglaries and receiving-stolen-property and that burglary enforcement remains a focus because of the city’s industrial areas.

Raul Rodriguez, code-enforcement officer supervisor, presented enforcement numbers: he reported 131 cases in April (with building-code, homeless activity, illegal dumping, property-maintenance and street-and-sidewalk complaints among the top categories) and 142 cases in May. Rodriguez also reviewed parking-enforcement activity: he said in April there were citations issued under several categories and explained that one citation may include multiple violations. For May he reported 905 parking citations, with night- and day-sweeper citations among them. He explained the difference between the number of citations and the number of violations: a single ticket can list multiple violations, so the violations count is higher than the number of citations issued.

Council members thanked staff and deputies for the reported decreases and for a recent notable arrest related to burglaries. Several council members asked staff to be mindful of citation enforcement near school graduations and to publicize a new state parking rule that prohibits parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk; staff agreed to add that notice to the city newsletter and digital channels.

Ending: Rodriguez said code enforcement and public-safety staff will follow up with the council on public-notification steps for the new parking rule and return with any requested detail.