FBI Statistics Again Highlight the Safety of Rancho Santa Margarita

If you're looking for trouble, you came to the wrong place.

When it comes to general safety, it's hard to beat the scant 7.9 crimes per 1,000 residents of Rancho Santa Margarita. It's a number culled from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report for 2010, and RSM finishes in pretty good shape.

For cities with a population of more than 20,000—RSM's population is 49,665—the city ranked No. 1 in the state for safety for every 1,000 residents when the common denominators are murder, rape, robbery, assault, total property crimes, burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft and arson.

This is the 10th consecutive year that RSM has been identified as one of the safest communities in Orange County and the state.

, including No. 12 Mission Viejo (12.7 crimes per 1,000 residents) and No. 19 Lake Forest.

In the overall state ranking, five of the seven cities that had lower crime rates had populations under 10,000, and one of the other two was Laguna Woods (6.5) which is comprised largely of the senior community Leisure World. Laguna Woods was No. 7, immediately ahead of RSM.

"There’s always room for improvement," said Orange County Sheriff Lt. Brian Schmutz, RSM's police chief. "Those numbers aren’t reflective solely of RSM police services. In this city, our success in public safety has been driven by a number of factors, not just the strong work ethic of the people who wear the unform here. We also have strong city council support and a community that’s appreciative of their public safety and stongly support the sheriff deputies that work here."

Mayor Tony Beall agreed.

“Public safety was one of the highest priorities when the city was incorporated" in 2000, Beall said. “My City Council colleagues and I continue to prioritize public safety so that our residents and business community may continue to safely live, work and play in our outstanding city. We will continue to work with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to ensure we have the right mix of services and support to stay ahead of crime.”

Numerous categories in the 2010 crime report showed a local decrease in frequency, including, robbery, larceny-theft and aggravated assault. Other categories, such as burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson statistics remained among the lowest numbers for cities similar in size to Rancho Santa Margarita. Subsequently, 2010 was the year in which Rancho Santa Margarita experienced its lowest crime rate since becoming a city on Jan. 1, 2000.

Over the 12 months of the previous year, there were 7.85 crimes per 1,000 residents; the total is slightly less than 2009, when there were 8.58 crimes per 1,000 people.

Interestingly, three of the four homicides that have occurred within the city took place in 2010.  Two of those—separate instances—were detailed in the Patch story, .

"There’s nothing preventative you can do in a domestic violence situation that turns to murder, other than providing resources to people to get out of the relationship at an earier point if those are the cirucmustances," Schmutz said.

On July 17, uninvited Dean Patrick Maldonado was killed by Brian Scott Ostrom in the bedroom of a Robinson Ranch home owned by Linda Shaw in what was essentially a lover's triangle. Both men were from Newport Beach. Ostrom was not charged with any violation.

On July 28, Eddie Lydell Bryant shot and killed his wife, Stacey Tomekia Bryant, and then himself in their home.

Another husband, Richard Gustav Forsberg, , Marcia Forsberg, in February before the ruse unraveled.  

Prior to 2010, the last murder in RSM took place in 2004.

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1982 by the International Associations of Chiefs of Police to meet the need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation.  The following year, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing and archiving those statistics.

In 2011, nearly 17,000 city, county, college and university, state tribal and federal agencies voluntarily participated in the UCR Program.

Information is available on the FBI’s Web site at www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm and the City’s Web site at www.cityofrsm.org.