Police made fewer arrests in San Diego County last year, compared to 2004. The San Diego Association of Governments reports that young people make up a smaller percentage of those arrests. KPBS Radio's Andrew Phelps has details.
Just 15 percent of people arrested last year were minors. That's a trend that has been sliding downward for a decade. But young people made up a third of all weapons-related arrests. Cynthia Burke of SANDAG says that information can help police decide where to put their resources.
Burke: So I think that that really talks to the need of looking at some of those higher-risk juveniles who are in the system who might be involved in gangs and who are out there committing violent offenses.
Burke says the rise in weapons offenses could coincide with a rise in the violent-crime rate across the country. The SANDAG report says the total number of adult arrests dropped in 2005. But that’s not a trend. And Burke says just because fewer people were arrested doesn’t mean there was less crime. For KPBS, I’m Andrew Phelps.
