Temecula’s Safety Rating Jumps Up

Temecula jumped from 96th to 47th safest city in the country, according to the FBI.

The report, which the Temecula Police Department made available Wendesday, shows the improvement happened from 2008 to 2010.

Some of the improvement is likely due to a new program called “Com State,” said sheriff’s Cpt. Andre O’Harra, chief of the Temecula Police Department.

The department started the program in 2010. It uses computer statistics to help sheriff’s officials decide how to focus their enforcement, he said.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department always collected crime statistics, but before the program, they had no good way to use them, the chief said.

“Law enforcement didn’t do a good job understanding what these statistics mean,” he said.

Law enforcement on the east coast started the program, but the Los Angeles Police Department use it with great success, the chief said.

The new system can’t take all the credit, because the economy also affects the crime rate, O’Harra said.

The types of crimes changed significantly over the last two years, he said. The number of crimes of opportunity rose, while violent crimes slumped a bit.

Thanks to their new system, they were able to see the change in crime trends and adjust their enforcement. “We were able to set up opportunities to deal with that,” he said.

Murrieta also got safer, moving from 42nd place in 2008 to 24th place in 2010.