Reported crime in Hermosa Beach falls by half in August, but car thefts and simple assaults are up for the year
Preliminary NIBRS data show 60 offenses in August, down from 129 a year earlier. Motor vehicle theft has more than doubled year to date.
Hermosa Beach police recorded 60 serious offenses in August, down 53.5% from 129 in August 2025, according to preliminary National Incident Based Reporting System data released by the Hermosa Beach Police Department.
Through the first eight months of 2026, the department has recorded 592 offenses, compared with 773 over the same period last year. That is a decline of 23.4%.
The figures are preliminary, and monthly totals can rise as investigations progress and reports are completed. That may account for part of August's low count. The year-to-date trend, which covers eight months of data, points in the same direction.
The drop was broad. All three FBI offense categories fell year to date. Crimes against property, which make up most local crime, fell 22.5%, from 528 to 409. Crimes against society, mainly drug and weapons violations, fell 37.9%, from 140 to 87. Crimes against persons fell 8.6%, from 105 to 96.
August's decline was driven by property crime, which fell from 91 offenses in August 2025 to 46. The "all other larceny" category, the department's largest, fell from 44 to 24. Burglaries fell from 10 to 2. Theft from motor vehicles fell from 6 to none.
Crimes against persons fell from 19 to 5. The department recorded one aggravated assault in August, compared with eight a year earlier, and three simple assaults, compared with 11.
Several categories are sharply lower for the year:
Motor vehicle theft is the clearest exception. The department has recorded 40 vehicle thefts so far this year, up from 19 at this point in 2025, an increase of 110.5%. August had five, compared with one in August 2025.
Simple assault is also up for the year, at 59 offenses compared with 45, an increase of 31.1%. The rise in simple assaults offsets most of the decline in aggravated assaults, which is why crimes against persons fell only 8.6% overall.
Identity theft rose 31.6% year to date, from 19 to 25. Fraud by false pretenses, swindle or confidence game rose 10.3%, from 29 to 32.
The 2026 totals also include one murder or nonnegligent manslaughter and one negligent manslaughter. Neither category had any offenses in the first eight months of 2025. Neither occurred in August.
In August alone, a handful of smaller categories ticked up from a year earlier: theft from buildings (three, up from two), shoplifting (two, up from one), and one each of robbery, kidnapping or abduction, and identity theft, categories that had none in August 2025.
The department's separate monthly activity report shows officers handled 2,121 calls for service in August, with daily totals ranging from 40 to 107. Officers logged 185 crime incidents and 273 arrests and infractions, which include citations and warnings.
Theft was the most common incident type, at 40, followed by traffic (31), disorderly conduct (13), DUI (12) and stolen vehicles (11). The report also lists five bomb threat incidents.
The activity report and the NIBRS summary count incidents differently, so their totals do not match. The NIBRS figures are preliminary as of Sept. 23 and may change as the department completes its formal report.
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