By Jonathan Friedman
Associate Editor

January 4, 2016 -- Among the nearly 8,900 reported crimes in Santa Monica during 2015, theft of varying degrees of severity was the most frequent with 3,250, according to the Santa Monica Open Data Portal. The most frequent type of theft reported was items stolen from vehicles with 897.

Theft was also the top reported crime in 2014, but the amount was much smaller that year with 2,645. Items stolen from vehicles was also the most frequently reported type of theft with 770.

Additional types of thefts reported included stolen bicycles (586 in 2015 and 410 in 2014), “other” (418 in 2015 and 306 in 2014), items stolen from buildings (403 in 2015 and 352 in 2014), grand theft auto (354 in 2015 and 302 in 2014), shoplifting (340 in 2015 and 307 in 2014), stolen vehicle parts (175 in 2015 and 136 in 2014), pickpocketing (63 in 2015 and 42 in 2014), purse snatching (10 in 2015 and 16 in 2014) and theft from coin machines (four in both years).

The numbers reported in the Open Data Portal are based on the Santa Monica Police Department’s (SMPD) crime and incident reports. They do not reflect whether the reported crimes led to convictions or even further investigation.

There were two reported homicides in 2015, up from none in 2014. The first one was reported Feb. 6. There was no immediate information available about this incident. The other reported homicide was July 15. Transient John Chris Footman, 45, died one day after being found at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and 10th Street following a possible assault.

Second on the most-reported crimes list for 2015 was assault with 877 reported incidents. This was down from 923 in 2014. The vast majority in both years were classified as “simple assault,” with 666 reported in 2015 and 746 reported the previous year. The remaining types of assault were classified as “aggravated.”

Public intoxication was the third-most reported crime in both years, although there was a significant drop from 2014 to 2015. There were 768 reported incidents this past year and 1,041 in 2014.

Other top reported crimes included vandalism (664 in 2015 and 668 in 2015), burglary (585 in 2015 and 494 in 2014), fraud (570 in 2015 and 574 in 2014), DUI (216 in 2015 and 276 in 2014), trespassing (128 in 2015 and 109 in 2014), “family offenses” (112 in 2015 and 96 in 2014) and sex offenses (99 in 2015 and 104 in 2014).

Reported drug possession crimes were down from 287 in 2014 to 262 in 2015. Possession of “synthetic” drugs was the most commonly reported in both years, with 175 in 2015 and 149 in 2014. Reported sales of illegal drugs was down from 32 in 2015 to 28 in 2014.

Other reported incidents of note included runaways (17 in 2015 and eight in 2014), kidnapping (three in 2015 and two in 2014), possession of obscene literature (three in both years) and prostitution (two in both years).