Rohnert Park Violent Crimes and Property Theft Hot Topic at Tonight's City Council Meeting

Property crimes in Rohnert Park surpassed violent offenses in 2010, and police were paid $980,855.31 in overtime last year. That’s the main topic of discussion at tonight’s City Council meeting.

The 2010 crime report, released last week, breaks down trends over the past five years. Here’s what the city documented:

Rohnert Park Public Safety put away one person for murder last year; and that’s rare here according to the numbers. The only other homicide in the last five years was in 2007. Nine rapes were reported; that’s down from the last five years. There were 17 forcible rapes reported in 2006, 16 in 2007, 11 in 2008 and nine the past two consecutive years.

There were roughly the same amount of persons robbed over the last five years; there were 18 in 2006, 23 in 2007, 19 in 2008, 28 in 2009 and 11 last year.

The number of aggravated assault is perhaps the most disturbing. There were 134 reported last year, compared with 166 in 2009, 198 in 2008, 200 in 2007 and 171 in 2006.

But the total number of property crimes outweighed crimes against people. Last year there were 835 total crimes that were classified as either burglary, larceny or motor vehicle theft. A total of 54 cars were stolen in Rohnert Park last year, compared with 52 in 2009, 72 in 2008, 87 in 2007 and 67 in 2006.

Brian Masterson, the Public Safety Department’s chief, will give the full report tonight. Check back for to-the-minute updates.

He wrote in the report that overall, Rohnert Park is "very safe" thanks to the hard work from public safety officers and because of community policing.

Tonight’s meeting will also address the progress of the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, to last year; and Council will talk about the status of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) future service to Rohnert Park and its stations.

The Sonoma County Water Agency will present 2011-2012 rates, and the Council will weigh repealing the current sewer use ordinance. The city is also expected to repeal the public art ordinance.

Check back at Rohnert Park Patch for live updates. The City Council meeting begins at 5 p.m. It doesn’t look as long as the last five-hour session; I’m guessing three hours tops tonight. The meeting is live broadcast here, and Council chambers are located at 130 Avram Ave., Rohnert Park.

Editor's note: Read what one public safety officer has to say about the department in . Click through the agenda to the right for more details.