Crime in California and some of the Bay Area’s biggest cities fell in 2024 after increases during the pandemic helped drive statewide approval last fall of a ballot measure to strengthen penalties in drug and property crimes and seat new prosecutors in Oakland and Los Angeles who promised tougher law enforcement, according to an analysis of annual state crime figures released Tuesday.
In the Bay Area, overall crime rates fell significantly last year in Oakland and San Francisco from the year before. Oakland’s overall crime rate remained about twice San Francisco’s and three times San Jose’s. Oakland continued to see violent crime surge even as overall crime rates and property crimes fell.
The rate rose measurably from 2023 to 2024 in San Jose, to a level similar to 2022…