San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit and Mayor Todd Gloria on Tuesday released the 2023 annual crime statistics.

The data show an overall decrease in crime for the second consecutive year and keeping San Diego as one of the safest big cities in America.

“The men and women of the San Diego Police Department put on their uniforms every day with one goal in mind: keeping our communities safe,” Police Chief Nisleit said. “This is proven by the fact that San Diego remains one of the safest big cities in the nation year-over-year, despite continued staffing shortages. This is a testament to proactive police work to prevent crimes from happening and investigative tools that help us hold criminals accountable.”

ABOUT NIBRS

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) has transitioned to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) as required by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. NIBRS differs from the previous summary reporting method by including more crime categories and allowing continuous reporting based on crime incident dates. NIBRS provides a more comprehensive and dynamic understanding of crimes committed in our city.

Crime categories in NIBRS include crimes against Persons (i.e., assault, homicide, etc.), Property (i.e., burglary, theft, robbery, etc.), and Society (i.e., alcohol and drug offenses, weapon offenses, gambling, etc.). These new categories are a shift from the older FBI reporting style (UCR Summary) of simply reporting violent and property crime counts.

2023 STATISTICS

Overall crime citywide in San Diego decreased 2.7% in 2023. Compared to the previous year, data show a decrease in over half the crimes tabulated. Crimes against persons have remained relatively the same compared to last year. Crimes against property have remained relatively low, with decreases in all crime sections except for vehicle thefts. While an increase in overall crimes against society is shown, most crime sections, such as prostitution and weapon law violations, show a decrease compared to last year.   

STATISTICS OF NOTE:

• Murders decreased by 13.5%. Of the 45 homicide cases, 6 were confirmed to be associated with gang activity and 5 were associated with family/domestic violence.
• Sexual assault decreased 16.2% in 2023.
• Overall non-fatal shootings decreased by 23 cases, a 12% decrease compared to 2022.
• The violent crime rate of 4.4 per thousand residents is one of the lowest of major cities in the nation.
• Hate crime reports have increased from 38 cases in 2022 to 66 cases in 2023.
  • Race accounted for 38% of hate crimes in 2023.
  • Religious bias accounted to 27% of hate crimes.
• Crimes committed by gang members decreased 12% and the number of documented gang members decreased by 20%.