By Ella Stone & Nehemiah Perez
Living in Vallejo, the odds of hearing gunshots in the distance is more likely than not. Vallejo is ranked 6 in top places to live in California, but the crime rate is 84.4% higher than the national average.
Vallejo used to be a nice city, with Mare Island being a Naval Shipyard, and was the capital of California for a short time. There has always been crime but the problem is the rate continues to rise. The murder rate nationally is 7.8 per 100,000 people, however in 2018,the murder rate in Vallejo was 8, in 2019 it was 12, and in 2020 it shot up to 27 people. Murder is not the only crime that is a problem. With a population of over 124,000 people, your chance of being a victim of a violent crime in Vallejo is 1 in 104.
Daily, calls flood into the Vallejo police force; however due to lack of resources and understaffing, dispatchers get overwhelmed and have to prioritize certain calls over others. A month has passed since the city of Vallejo has declared a state of emergency. Over this last month, people have been left to fend for themselves from any “small” crimes that they are faced with.
Petty theft, burglary, robbery at gun (or sword) point, grand theft auto, and other crimes have only risen since the declaration. Criminals now know they are more likely to get away with anything they want to do. While the usual crime has increased, other less common things have begun to occur more often, in places that are usually not affected by these occurrences.
Vallejo Crime and Safety reported a man with a machete seen August 25, 2023 at 11:07 am, two hours later at 2:50 pm a call came in of two men fighting with machetes, one with a head injury and the other bleeding. Just a day later, Chick-Fil-A was robbed at gunpoint. Thankfully everyone was safe. VPD released information that 145 or more shootings have taken place this year, and the number just keeps increasing.
With all of this going on, Vallejo has become more and more dangerous. So much so that the crime is leaking into neighboring cities. Intersections in the city of Benicia show the remnants of rubber from people doing donuts, and purse snatching has occurred at the Raley’s in Benicia as well. Vallejo is in need of extra resources in law enforcement. For now, the state of emergency remains.
beniciapaw.com 