Police say overall Fremont crime down as commercial burglaries, auto thefts spike

Crime in Fremont has decreased overall in the month since Alameda County issued its 2019 novel coronavirus shelter-in-place order, but property crimes have risen by 30 percent, the Fremont Police Department said in an announcement.

The category with the largest increase is commercial burglary, which is up 133 percent from the same period in 2019, averaging two incidents daily compared to less than one a day at the same time last year.

Auto thefts have jumped by 60 percent compared to a year ago.

The department said it is now focusing its efforts to addressing those two trends, “implementing new strategies and developing new outreach efforts to prevent and disrupt these crimes.”

Efforts had previously been directed at auto burglaries, which had been a problem category before the shelter order.

Auto burglaries since the shelter order was enacted have dropped by almost half compared to January and February this year, the department said. Auto break-ins reported since mid-March “have shifted from commercial retail hot spots with high value losses (i.e., laptops) to scattered areas throughout our neighborhoods with minimal losses” such as loose change, the department said.

More than 800 complaints about violations of the shelter order were made to the department between March 16 and April 13, an average of about 28 a day. The department said it prefers to use education to bring violators in line, but has had to issue several warnings. No citations have been issued to violators to date.

There has been no change in the rate of domestic violence reports, the department said.