In an Instagram Live post, Villanueva revealed the grim numbers, as the region joined America’s ongoing crime wave:
The county ended 2020 with a 36% increase overall in violent crime, Villanueva said, making the increase in violent crimes thus far in 2021 all the more striking. “All huge numbers, all very, very troublesome.” He said that the rise in crime was an “existential threat,” along with homelessness and the passage of poorly conceived criminal justice reform.
He said the crime was worst in African American and Latino communities, and criticized the county’s Board of Supervisors for failing to address the issue.
