Riverside County Sheriff's quarterly report: calls for service up slightly, larceny trending upward, vehicle thefts trending down

Lieutenant David Clark of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office presented the department’s first-quarter statistics to the Lake Elsinore City Council, summarizing calls for service, arrest trends and Part 1 crime data for the period covering late 2024 into early 2025.

Clark said calls for service were slightly higher in January compared with the previous year, roughly even in March, and that the noon–6 p.m. block consistently records the most calls. He reported felony arrests increased slightly in January and February and were close to prior-year levels in March; misdemeanor arrests were down compared with the prior year.

On Part 1 crimes, Clark said aggravated assaults showed a notable upward trend with spikes in December and March, while robberies were down for January through March and homicides were zero for the reported period. Burglaries showed a significant drop from 94 to 55 for the comparable period; larceny rose modestly (from about 480 to 535 in the six-month comparison Clark provided) and he noted vehicle thefts have trended downward over the past two years.

Clark described traffic-collision counts and response-time performance: response times for Priority 1 calls generally met the department goal in the five- to six-minute range for January through March; fatal collisions were reported as two in February and none in March. Clark said the department had spike enforcement operations (including retail loss-prevention partnerships) around the holiday season that contributed to theft-related arrests in October.

After the presentation, Mayor Tisdale and council members acknowledged the report and had no further action on the item; Clark finished by taking questions and offering to return as needed for follow-up discussion.

No votes were taken on the presentation; it was informational.