Walnut Creek: Perception is Reality

June, 2022: smash-and-grab at Macy's, WC

Your humble blogger sometimes visits Walnut Creek and has found it to be a pleasant suburban community with both middle-class and upscale stores and restaurants. Its median household income of $130,000 is on par with the rest of the Bay Area and is well above the national average of $75,000.

Crime has recently made "sleepy" Walnut Creek's residents unsettled.

In recent months, Walnut Creek has witnessed flash mob commercial burglaries, likely perpetrated by crews that rove the Bay Area, according to law enforcement. In October, a group of would-be burglars smashed a stolen Land Rover into the Louis Vuitton store at Broadway Plaza, fleeing down Highway 24 when officers arrived. Weeks later, police arrested members of an alleged theft ring at a Lululemon boutique.

Fears intensified on Dec. 5, when three masked perpetrators confronted two victims — one of them an off-duty police officer — in the 1500 block of Bonanza Street. Brandishing a handgun, the assailants stole a wallet from one victim, then pistol-whipped and snatched a bag from the other victim before speeding off in a white Lexus.

Walnut Creek officials say that statistically crime has gone down:

Records from the Walnut Creek Police Department corroborate the downward trend. This year, the city had logged 39 robberies as of Dec. 11, compared with 47 for the whole year in 2022. Burglaries also appear to be declining: In 2022, police documented 304 reports. This year, residents and businesses suffered 206 burglaries through the end of October.

“It seems worse than it is,” [Mayor Loella] Haskew continued, suggesting that the “big exciting robberies” this fall drew undue attention, because they contrasted with Walnut Creek’s reputation as a sleepy, upscale bedroom community.

As we've found with school shootings, one or two well-publicized incidents overwhelm statistical analysis that argues conditions are improving. Perception is reality.