By Chris Kramer
Notable comments from the 2021 crime report, as reported by the acting police chief of Seaside, to the city council on 2/3/2022:
1. “Crime went up overall by 3%.”
2. “Our robberies went up by 40% in 2021.”
3. “Assaults went up substantially. So we had 81 assaults. Which is very high, as opposed to 42 in 2020. They went up 93%.”
4. “There’s also some things we’ve looked at to try to determine why these numbers are so high. And I will say there is an overarching theme of how some of the COVID shelter-in-places have impacted not only our community, but really the nation.”
5. “But the shelter-in-place certainly had a lot of folks within the home. We had an increase in our domestic violence. We had an increase of family tension within the home. A lot of kids weren’t going to school so we saw a lot of family assaults happening from within households. And that number is definitely reflective of that.”
6. “Our burglaries slightly went up, by 8%.”
7. “Auto thefts increased by 14%.”
Unfortunately, crime is just one of the terrible consequences of the pandemic lockdowns. Others: drastic increases in suicide, overdoses, alcoholism, depression, anxiety, & psych issues. Tyrannical mandates tend to have detrimental consequences, despite stated intentions. And those who are responsible should be held accountable!