Crime has taken a major overall drop in Santa Barbara County. That’s according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, which reports that serious crimes dropped 11% in 2018 compared to 2017.
The just released statistics are for unincorporated parts of the county, as well as for the cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, and Solvang.
The biggest drops were in Solvang, where there was a 41% overall decline in serious crimes, including a 48% reduction in property crimes.
There were some increases in certain types of crime. Possession of stolen property was up 69%, fraud increased 25%, and drug possession increased 25%.