Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Repeat offenders and the Kevin Bacon effect

La Mesa PD and sheriff's dept. find criminals where their friends live

Kevin Bacon and La Mesa police chief Ed Aceves
Kevin Bacon and La Mesa police chief Ed Aceves

According to La Mesa police chief Ed Aceves, a joint project between the La Mesa Police Department and San Diego County Sheriff's Department that targeted "prolific offenders" resulted in a 45 percent reduction in residential burglaries and a 51 percent reduction in vehicle burglaries between February and April.

Aceves said that the Sheriff Department's Statistical Analysis Driven Law Enforcement Team (SADLE) worked with his department on a logistics-driven way to stop crime.

"It's not how it's typically done in law enforcement; the normal approach is, ‘Let's work with the area where there's a lot of crime,’” Aceves explained. "Instead, the approach was focusing on the prolific offenders in our area."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Prolific offenders are people with convictions for burglaries, and they're generally out on parole or probation, which gives cops latitude in stopping and searching them — in cop language, “4th waivers.”

"We started with the top 100 offenders in our area. Most have been arrested in the last three months," Aceves said. "We target these people — in some cases we followed them."

The project included Rancho San Diego and Spring Valley, where the sheriff has jurisdiction, as well as La Mesa. The data team looked at patterns, including location and times of day of burglaries, and tied it to offenders.

For example, an area of apartment and condo complexes along Baltimore Drive north of Aztec Drive had a lot of vehicle burglaries, he said.

"If there's 50 vehicle burglaries, it isn't 50 random events, it's a small group of offenders," a SADLE spokesman said. "Prolific offenders are a small percentage of people committing a large percentage of crimes."

Not only did the cops target the prolific offenders, they targeted the offenders' associates. And they tied the offenders and their friends to hotspots for burglaries.

"It becomes the family tree drawn on the wall. Everyone is somehow connected — the prolific offenders are connected. It's like the Kevin Bacon game of prolific offenders," Aceves said.

For example, La Mesa had a series of residential burglaries in one area and DNA evidence identified a single unknown suspect — who turned out to be an associate of a prolific offender.

"We had several hotspots where there were a series of burglaries, the same M.O., the same time of day, that made us think the area was familiar to the offender," Aceves said.

"Typically, we find friends [of a prolific offender] live in the area where that's happening."

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Next Article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1
Kevin Bacon and La Mesa police chief Ed Aceves
Kevin Bacon and La Mesa police chief Ed Aceves

According to La Mesa police chief Ed Aceves, a joint project between the La Mesa Police Department and San Diego County Sheriff's Department that targeted "prolific offenders" resulted in a 45 percent reduction in residential burglaries and a 51 percent reduction in vehicle burglaries between February and April.

Aceves said that the Sheriff Department's Statistical Analysis Driven Law Enforcement Team (SADLE) worked with his department on a logistics-driven way to stop crime.

"It's not how it's typically done in law enforcement; the normal approach is, ‘Let's work with the area where there's a lot of crime,’” Aceves explained. "Instead, the approach was focusing on the prolific offenders in our area."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Prolific offenders are people with convictions for burglaries, and they're generally out on parole or probation, which gives cops latitude in stopping and searching them — in cop language, “4th waivers.”

"We started with the top 100 offenders in our area. Most have been arrested in the last three months," Aceves said. "We target these people — in some cases we followed them."

The project included Rancho San Diego and Spring Valley, where the sheriff has jurisdiction, as well as La Mesa. The data team looked at patterns, including location and times of day of burglaries, and tied it to offenders.

For example, an area of apartment and condo complexes along Baltimore Drive north of Aztec Drive had a lot of vehicle burglaries, he said.

"If there's 50 vehicle burglaries, it isn't 50 random events, it's a small group of offenders," a SADLE spokesman said. "Prolific offenders are a small percentage of people committing a large percentage of crimes."

Not only did the cops target the prolific offenders, they targeted the offenders' associates. And they tied the offenders and their friends to hotspots for burglaries.

"It becomes the family tree drawn on the wall. Everyone is somehow connected — the prolific offenders are connected. It's like the Kevin Bacon game of prolific offenders," Aceves said.

For example, La Mesa had a series of residential burglaries in one area and DNA evidence identified a single unknown suspect — who turned out to be an associate of a prolific offender.

"We had several hotspots where there were a series of burglaries, the same M.O., the same time of day, that made us think the area was familiar to the offender," Aceves said.

"Typically, we find friends [of a prolific offender] live in the area where that's happening."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Conservatives cry, “Turnabout is fair gay!”

Will Three See Eight’s Fate?
Next Article

San Diego Made Holiday Market, Veterans Day Parade & VetFest

Events November 10-November 11, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader