Town where dead outnumber living has Bay Area’s highest theft rate

Tiny Colma, California, is famous for its cemeteries, the final resting places of newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Charles de Young, jeans maker Levi Strauss, Old West lawman Wyatt Earp and baseball Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Joe DiMaggio.

While Colma’s 1.5 million dead are far more plentiful than the town’s living residents, tens of thousands of visitors are drawn every day to its bustling Serra and 280 Metro shopping centers and Serramonte Auto Row south of Daly City. And that helps explain another peculiar fact: Colma has by far the highest crime rate of any Bay Area city.

John Munsey, Colma’s police chief for nearly four years, is quick to defend his department, noting that with so few living residents, it doesn’t take many thefts to drive up a rate of crimes per 100,000 people. As a result, the town’s crime rate often has led the region.

“There’s no other town out there with only 1,700 residents but so many people coming into it,” Munsey said. Well, actually, the 2020 Census reports a lower population of 1,507, and that’s the number the state Department of Justice uses in calculating statewide crime rates.

But at a time when a rash of retail thefts blamed on recent California laws that lowered crime penalties has led news reports and spurred a November ballot measure to toughen punishment, Munsey acknowledges his town has been a target for thieves.

“Theft and narcotics cases have increased since 2014,” Munsey said, referring to the year voters passed Proposition 47, which lowered penalties for drug and property crimes that would be toughened a bit more by Proposition 36 on the November ballot. “The California Police Chiefs Association has endorsed Prop 36.”

Colma Officers were conducting a foot patrol in a business in the unit block of Colma Boulevard. While inside the store, they observed a male exit the store with unpaid merchandise. The business’ loss prevention officer attempted to stop the male, but he fled on foot. (Photo courtesy of Colma Police Department)

Colma Officers were dispatched to a business in the 5000 block of Junipero Serra Boulevard on a report of a theft that occurred. (Photo courtesy of Colma Police Department)

Colma Officers were dispatched to a business in the 600 block of Serramonte Boulevard on a report of a subject attempting to use a fraudulent identification card to purchase a vehicle. (Photo courtesy of Colma Police Department)

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Colma Officers were conducting a foot patrol in a business in the unit block of Colma Boulevard. While inside the store, they observed a male exit the store with unpaid merchandise. The business’ loss prevention officer attempted to stop the male, but he fled on foot. (Photo courtesy of Colma Police Department)

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According to the latest 2023 California Department of Justice data, Colma had the highest property crime rate per 100,000 residents across the nine counties of the Bay Area, and the third-highest rate for violent crime. Most of Colma’s reported 2023 crimes — 996 — involved property, an increase of 194 over 2022. The town’s 24 violent crimes last year were 20 fewer than the year before.

The Colma Police Department’s Facebook page regularly features examples on its “Misdemeanor Mondays” and “Felony Fridays.” Among recent entries: on July 26, a 27-year-old San Francisco woman was cited for taking $947.36 worth of merchandise from a retailer — a value just under Proposition 47’s felony threshold. On July 26, a 45-year-old San Francisco man was arrested for trying to buy a car from a Colma business with invalid identification. A few days later, on July 30, an 18-year-old Oakland man was arrested for stealing $1,844.96 worth of belts from a clothing store.

Though Colma’s total reported property and violent crimes (1,020) were lower than other suburban cities like Antioch (4,078), Richmond (4,798), Vallejo (6,095) and Berkeley (7,809), Colma’s small population vaulted it to the lead in per capita crime rates for Bay Area towns.

Across the Bay, Emeryville, a city of nearly 13,000, had the region’s second-highest rate for property crime and fourth-highest for violent crime. And neighboring Oakland, a city of more than 440,000 residents, had the highest rate for violent crime and fourth-highest for property crime. Both the mayor and county district attorney now face November recall votes.

“The FBI rates us one of the most technically dangerous cities based on crime, but Emeryville only has 1.2 square miles,” said Baylee Worthen, police officer and public information officer at Emeryville police department. The city borders Oakland and its population triples during the day with commuters to jobs at companies including Peet’s Coffee and Pixar Animation Studios.

This year, the department began assigning officers to regular beats in a bid to drive the numbers down, Worthen said.

“They’re encouraged to meet the business owners, the residents, get out and walk in the park and the basketball courts in those beats,” Worthen said. “They get to know the crime trends and the problems that their assigned area is having.”