By Ryan Lillis
Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel said his agency is researching what happened to crime levels and trends during past recessions to try to predict what will happen during the current period of economic hardship.
Braziel covered a wide range of topics during a 90-minute sit-down with The Bee's editorial board Thursday afternoon.
Braziel spoke of the important role social services play in keeping a community clean and safe, his desire to see more things open in the city overnight and the tough decisions his department will face as it sets its priorities during the current budget crisis.
One category of crime that historically increases when the economy sours are property crimes such as home burglaries and auto theft. The chief, who took command of the department in January, said there has been an "uptick" in daytime burglaries in the city over the past month.
A daily check of the department's crime logs has shown that many of these break-ins are being committed by juveniles, including an incident last week in the Pocket area in which four teenagers were arrested after a pair of midday break-ins.
The Bee has asked the police department to compile its arrest totals for juveniles booked on suspicion of burglary over the past several years. Without citing statistics, police officials have said in the past that more young people seemed to be committing those crimes.
If there has been an increase, it would be in contrast to trends in fatal violence among young people in the city this year.
One teenager - an 18-year-old man - has been the victim of a homicide in Sacramento through the first three months of the year. Last year, 13 teens were the victims of homicide in all of Sacramento County, down from 24 the year before, according to the coroner's office.
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