Napa County rural crime rate remained flat in 2023 (2024)

Major violent and property crimes in unincorporated Napa County outside of cities fell in 2023 by 7%.

The number of such crimes reported to the Napa County Sheriff’s Office fell from 401 in 2022 to 372 last year. The unincorporated county had no homicides, 13 rapes, three robberies, 116 assaults, 52 burglaries, 176 larcenies/thefts and 12 stolen vehicles reported.

“Not a big dip,” Sheriff Oscar Ortiz said. “I think I could best describe (it) as crime being flat for the last three years.”

Ortiz presented the 2023 sheriff's office annual report to the county Board of Supervisors on May 7.

Burglaries dropped from 80 in 2022 to 52. Ortiz said a prolific burglar or burglary crew can cause statistics to spike until their arrest. Ortiz called burglary an invasive crime, given burglars might go into someone’s room and rummage around.

“We take that very, very seriously and we dedicate a lot of resources to solving those when they happen,” he said. “Those are down.”

The coroner’s bureau of the sheriff’s office reported 11 fentanyl-related deaths in 2023, down from 18 the previous year. Ortiz said most of the local fentanyl comes from San Francisco. Significant arrests in the Tenderloin district and other parts of that city cut the local supply.

Ortiz also mentioned the local community outreach done by the Napa Opioid Safety Coalition and the availability of Narcan, or naloxone, to reverse fentanyl overdoses.

On Feb. 3, 2023, deputies stopped a suspect who had an arrest warrant and found that he possessed 62 grams of fentanyl. By comparison, a standard street dosage is one-tenth of a gram, Ortiz said.

“I have no doubt a 62-gram seizure prevented some overdoses in our community,” Ortiz said.

But the sheriff also sees an even bigger local drug problem than fentanyl.

“Our number one problem in Napa County in the area of drugs continues to be methamphetamine,” he said. “You pull the string on most of our crime, whether its theft, burglary, sex offenses — if you pull the string long enough, there’s methamphetamine at the end of that string.”

Total arrests fell in 2023, from 708 to 498. Total reported crimes fell from 1,743 to 1,354.

The California Highway Patrol generally does traffic enforcement on rural roads. Ortiz said the sheriff’s office hears about speeding problems on certain roads and helps out.

“Again, it’s not a primary mission, but it’s something we’ve stepped up because it’s what we’re hearing from our community,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz highlighted certain incidents from 2023.

On Jan. 5, deputies helped Napa police catch a fleeing bank robbery suspect. The man later admitted he had intended to commit “suicide by cop” because he didn’t want to go back to prison. But Krieger, a sheriff’s office patrol dog, apprehended him amid a pile of pallets, Ortiz said.

On June 15, another canine, Brick, helped catch a robbery suspect in American Canyon. The suspect tried to draw a handgun from his waistband, but officers and Brick overcame him.

Sheriff’s deputies in 2023 used force on various occasions. The most common type was takedowns with 27, followed by control holds at 20, body control at 12, dog bites at eight and pain compliance at four, according to the report.

The Sheriff's Office had eight resignations, four retirements and two moves to other agencies. It had 13 new hires. Ortiz said the department is younger and less experienced than it was 10 to 15 years ago.

“We are constantly hiring. We are always looking for new deputies,” he said.

Ortiz also presented a list of military equipment to the Board of Supervisors as required by California law. He said there is no precise definition of what to include and he considers the items listed as law enforcement equipment.

The list included 35 types of items, ranging from launchers for chemical agents to smoke grenades to tactical bolt-action rifles to armor-piercing projectiles to a bomb squad command vehicle to a Lenco BearCat G3 armored vehicle.

Ortiz said law enforcement receives negative headlines when it obtains certain equipment while lacking the proper training, policies and guardrails on using them, but added that Napa County has those safeguards.

Supervisors had few questions, having gone through this exercise last year.

“You said we have a lot of young people on our force, so I imagine there is a lot of training going on in all the different areas, but I would especially imagine using this equipment as well,” board chair Joelle Gallagher said.

“Indeed,” Ortiz replied.

The Board of Supervisors voiced no objections to the sheriff's office having the listed equipment.