Crime rose 23 percent in Orange County last year – the greatest single-year jump in at least a decade – with the steepest increases coming in stolen vehicles, aggravated assaults, theft and burglaries, according to law enforcement records compiled by The Orange County Register.

California saw a 13 percent increase in property crime versus a drop of 4.2% nationally and a 9 percent rise in violent crime versus a rise of 1.7% nationally in the first half of last year, according to FBI data.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the state point to Proposition 47. The 2014 voter-approved measure reduced some felony theft and drug offenses to misdemeanors, making it more difficult to keep low-level offenders behind bars. “We used to put someone in jail for methamphetamines and they’d be in jail for a while, now it’s just a citation. It’s not uncommon to arrest the same guy twice in a single day. It’s almost like criminals are laughing in our face.”

Bogue said Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies who run the jail system have advised police not to book misdemeanor offenders into the county lockup because it’s not worth an officer’s time.

Such citations can include possession of small amounts of meth, cocaine and heroin.

“Why bother arresting for cases that are almost non-crimes?”

Small items have been taken in most of the thefts and home burglaries. “They can get in, get out, sell at pawn shops and get money,” he said.

Criminologists are urging not to draw conclusions. Other established crime factors requiring additional study are poverty rates, unemployment, housing market changes, gang activity, drug markets, police-community relations and demographic shifts. Orange County’s unemployment rate dropped in 2015, but rents hit an all-time high, creating a rental market that effectively doubled the county’s poverty rate.

During the study of AB109, academics found that crime actually dropped in some counties that invested more in rehabilitation. Prop. 47 promised to fund programs to help people stay out of prison and to pay for those services with the savings gained from reducing prison populations (millions of dollars so far). But the state has yet to distribute any of that money and won’t do so until Spring 2017.

Also, California recently slashed its estimate of first-year savings produced by Prop. 47 – to $29.3 million from the $100 million to $200 million previously predicted by state analysts.

Crime at one third of high from early 2000’s. As crime drops, people feel safe, stop locking things, becomes easier to steal, thefts are reported, crime rates rise.