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Riverside County captain reports 2025 Q2 trends: assaults up in new reporting, vehicle thefts down
Summary
A Riverside County Sheriff's captain told the council that reporting changes (EDP codes) account for a rise in recorded aggravated assaults; vehicle thefts declined and fireworks enforcement produced dozens of citations and about 1,300 pounds of confiscated fireworks during the Fourth of July weekend.
A Riverside County Sheriff's Office representative reviewed April'June 2025 calls-for-service and crime trends for Lake Elsinore at the July 8 council meeting, highlighting that a change in reporting practices made year-to-year comparisons for aggravated assaults unreliable.
"What happened in 2025 is the way that we are reporting to the FBI has totally changed. We're using EDP codes now," the captain said, explaining that incidents previously not coded as aggravated assaults now appear in that statistic. The captain noted aggravated assaults rose from six in April 2024 to 33 in April 2025 but attributed the increase to the reporting change rather than an immediate spike in violent crime.
The presentation reviewed calls and arrests: April calls were reported as 3,408 (compared with 3,054 the prior year), May at 3,672 (versus 3,492) and June at 3,344. Misdemeanor arrests were listed as 109 in April, 174 in May and 156 in June; felony arrests were 51 in April, 66 in May and 30 in June.
Traffic and special-event enforcement also featured in the report. For the Fourth of July weekend the sheriff's office reported 73 fireworks-related calls, 35 citations written for fireworks and approximately 1,300 pounds of fireworks confiscated. Traffic-collision totals for the three months were shown (116 collisions in April with one fatal; 111 collisions in May; 128 collisions in June). The captain also described average response times for priority-one calls as roughly 6'7 minutes (6.23 minutes in April, 6.89 in May, 7.01 in June) and said priority-two response times were generally in the 18'22 minute range.
The captain credited new surveillance-camera deployments for reductions in some vehicle-theft metrics and described burglary, larceny and robbery trends month to month. He closed the presentation by inviting questions; council members thanked the sheriff's office for enforcement and outreach.
What happens next: The presentation was informational and did not require council action. Councilmembers asked staff to publish clearer summaries of fireworks enforcement and citation data for public transparency.
