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Sheriff’s office presents 2024 crime and response data to council; collisions, hit‑and‑runs and e‑bikes draw attention
Summary
Riverside County Sheriff's Captain Rails briefed the council on 2024 public‑safety statistics for Canyon Lake, including calls for service, arrest totals, response times, a rise in non‑injury collisions and hit‑and‑runs, and growing concerns about e‑bikes and public safety tactics.
Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Captain Rails reported 2024 law‑enforcement statistics to the Canyon Lake City Council and responded to questions about traffic collisions, response times and the growing prevalence of e‑bikes.
Captain Rails said total calls for service in 2024 were 4,647 and that deputies logged 132 arrests for a range of offenses (including 30 arrests on outstanding warrants and 28 DUIs). He said auto thefts decreased this year compared with 2023, which he attributed in part to expanded use of automated license‑plate reader cameras (Flock cameras). Captain Rails said the Flock cameras along Railroad Canyon average about 21,000 plate reads per day; the system generated about eight alerts per day and assisted with arrests and investigations in 2024.
On response times, Captain Rails described the department’s priority classifications and said priority‑one (life‑threatening) call response from call receipt to arrival averaged about 8.4 minutes this year; dispatch‑to‑arrival averages for priority‑one calls were about 6.8 minutes. Priority‑two and priority‑three averages were higher in some categories but were broadly consistent with prior years.
Traffic collisions rose in some non‑injury categories, Captain Rails said: non‑injury collisions increased to 46 from 11 the prior year and hit‑and‑runs increased to 30 from eight. He attributed some of the increase to parked‑vehicle collisions, golf cart incidents and a pattern of drivers failing to stop to exchange information.
Council members pressed Captain Rails about electric bicycles. He said e‑bikes are a growing problem: deputies avoid vehicle pursuits on e‑bikes; the department sometimes follows and then later contacts riders. When e‑bikes are operated as motor vehicles (for example, no pedals and pegs installed), deputies tow the vehicles and issue citations; the department has towed several in neighboring jurisdictions and is working on prevention and outreach.
Captain Rails also described CBAT (a county behavioral‑health clinician teamed with deputies) activity and said mental‑health referrals and calls handled by the clinician increased; the unit handled 23 referrals and 21 calls in Canyon Lake during the year.
The presentation concluded with a community‑outreach summary that included DUI checkpoints, school and event outreach, and contact information for the local station.
