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Subscribe for speedy delivery to your mailbox! Orange Art Association features Mark Jacobucci The Orange Art Association will feature artist Mark Jacobucci at its Monday, May 12 meeting. Jacobucci, an oil painter, will begin his presentation at 7:30 p.m. Chief Adams' final crime report is good news By Carrie Graham Crime is on a downward trend in the City of Orange according to a recent report given by former Police Chief Dan Adams. The report on crime statistics from 2024 was presented at the March 25 city council meeting, a day before Adams’ retirement. Overall crime in the city decreased by about 10% from 2023 to 2024, and is down 20% in 2025, compared to the same time last year. While robberies and stolen vehicles increased slightly, homicide, sexual and aggravated assaults, and crimes against residential and commercial buildings decreased. In their efforts to address the unhoused population in Orange, the OPD Homeless Engagement, Assistance and Resource Team, or HEART, made contact over 5,000 times, helped direct about 200 to shelter and conducted 133 mental health follow-ups. “While we all would like to end homelessness, it's going to be tough as long as it's legal to be homeless,” Adams said. “But we will continue with this level of staffing to make sure that quality of life issues are dealt with and that when people do commit law violations we will arrest them.” In total, Orange PD received 95,570 calls for service, an average of 260 calls per day. Nearly 50,000 of those were emergency calls, and over 99% of those were answered within 10 seconds. Officer response time was about four minutes, and nearly 6,000 arrests were made. Adams also addressed a topic of frequent criticism, the Plaza Park. While it feels like someone hits the fountain every other month, collisions are actually down significantly. “I want to report so everybody hears it from me,” the Chief stressed, “that in 2024 we had one collision in Plaza Park compared to four in 2023 and 12 in 2022. So, obviously, there were a lot in 2022, but for everybody on social media who says ‘there's another one,’ ‘happens all the time,’ ‘so dangerous,’we had one collision in 2024 and zero so far in 2025.” Decrease is twofold Although crime has decreased, so have the number of OPD officers with “boots on the ground.” The department had managed to hit its staffing goal of 170 in 2023, but has since decreased to 153. Though some of the vacancies can be attributed to retirements or injury, Adams said some officers and other members of the department have left for positions in other cities for more money. “It’s about retention right now. OPA to host Town Hall Residents of Orange Park Acres are invited to a Town Hall meeting, Wednesday, May 14 at Salem Lutheran Church. The meeting, commencing at 7 p.m., will cover fire and police safety, Orange County Animal Response Team evacuation and animal safety, the 4th of July Parade and Community Updates Salem is located at 6500 E. Santiago Canyon Road. Registration for the 58th annual OPA 4th of July Parade opens June 1. This year’s parade theme is "OPA Dreamin." Visit orangeparkacres.org. It's about pay. That's the only way we're going to retain people,” he said. “All the police departments are competing, all the departments are finding new ways to recruit officers, including referral bonuses. Police officers are looking at the end result, what are they taking home every two weeks?” Adams said that they do have several officers ready to start the police academy and several more already in training, but stressed the importance of being able to plan for growth in the future. It’s also worth noting that the community is part of what has helped officer success. Last year, 61 volunteers worked over 5,600 hours, saving the department close to $160,000 in salaries. Additionally, 133 residents participated in community academies, and 56 neighborhood watch meetings were held. After finishing up the presentation, former chief Adams wished incoming chief Adam Jevec luck and thanked the city for the opportunities he’s had. “After 35 years, tomorrow is my last day,” he remarked. “So I say thank you all, good luck to everybody moving forward. I hope Orange continues being an awesome community. It's given me my whole career, this has been my only job so it's been pretty cool.” Edison meets with residents to discuss power shutoffs Southern California Edison (SCE) representatives provided a tutorial on Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) and heard from angry residents whose electricity had been interrupted for days at a time at a public meeting, April 9, at Salem Lutheran Church. “The big reason we are here,” Cynthia Quimby, Edison government relations manager, explained, "is to listen to you. The decision to cut power is not taken lightly. It is only a last resort.” That last resort has, apparently, impacted some customers more than others. Audience members described losing power repeatedly, with little, if any, warning, and living without it for, some reported, up to five days. Others noted the danger to people who rely on electricity to power medical equipment and elderly neighbors who need extra help. They also noted the high cost of generators. Edison claims it will offer rebates for generators, but as several audience members noted, not all of them qualify. The primary complaint was, "why doesn’t Edison simply fix the problem areas and avoid PSPS’s all together." Mitigating measures The company is trying, according to Emergency Operations Manager Cameron McPherson, but the fixes are daunting. The grid is 50,000 square miles, with 14,000 square miles in a high fire risk area. The company services 51,000 miles of overhand lines, 14,000 miles of which are in high risk zones. It encompasses 1.4 million towers and poles. Senior Manager Chris Clark reported that Edison is hardening the grid by covering conductors, segmenting circuits and undergrounding when possible. Last year, he said, the company replaced three miles of circuitry serving Villa Park and a portion of East Orange with covered conductors. Covered conductors can withstand higher winds and avoid sparking or arcing if an overhead line is hit by a tree branch or other objects, therefore reducing fire risk and improving reliability. The company also performed over 100 maintenance repairs in those areas. Those improvements are not guaranteed remedies but they do mitigate the possibility of outages. McPherson explained that wind speed thresholds, dry weather conditions and fire science are the factors considered when Edison invokes a PSPS. Weather patterns are forecast for areas down to 1 or 2 kilometers to assess wind speeds that may cause damage the system. Conductors can withstand sustained winds up to 31 mph, with gusts of 46 mph. Covered conductors can handle 40 mph winds with 58 mph gusts. Dry weather results in dry brush, which increases the possibility of fire. SCE conducts biweekly sampling of vegetation to determine dryness in high-risk areas. That data is fed into a fire potential index to calculate the risk of fire. Fire scientists can predict potential ignition and in what direction a fire might spread. As conditions threaten the grid, individual segments of a circuit are, when possible, switched to neighboring circuits so power can be retained and delivered. During large scale events, however, power may be turned off anyway. That isn’t what residents wanted to hear. Amelia Castro of the Orange Emblem Club is collecting unwanted clothing to distribute to those in need. If you are into "spring cleaning" and have any clothes to donate, please contact her at amelia_castro@hotmail.com and she will pick them up. The project ends May 17. The meeting will be held at the Community of Christ Church, 395 S. Tustin Street. For information, contact Pat at (714) 5388069.
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