Who polices San Juan Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano has no city police department of its own. The city has contracted its law enforcement from the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) since April 19, 1961, according to both the city and the sheriff. Deputies assigned to the city work as San Juan Capistrano Police Services, led by a sheriff's captain who serves as chief of police services. The police services office line is 949-443-6369 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; non-emergency dispatch is 714-647-7000 or 949-770-6011.
This matters when you read the data. The DOJ lists San Juan Capistrano as its own reporting agency, so its counts cover crimes inside the city limits only, even though the deputies are county employees. Rancho Mission Viejo and Ladera Ranch, the unincorporated communities to the east and north-east, are also patrolled by the sheriff, but their crimes are counted under the Orange County Sheriff's Department line, not the city's. Fire and emergency medical service in the city come from the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).
San Juan Capistrano crime by year: the DOJ figures
Every California law enforcement agency reports its crimes to the state each year, and the DOJ publishes them on OpenJustice in the Crimes and Clearances file. The latest edition, released in July 2025, covers calendar years 1985 through 2024. These are the city's counts for the last ten years.
| Year | Violent crimes | Property crimes | Burglaries | Vehicle thefts | Larceny-thefts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 66 | 429 | 94 | 53 | 282 |
| 2016 | 87 | 436 | 108 | 53 | 275 |
| 2017 | 82 | 448 | 103 | 32 | 313 |
| 2018 | 84 | 351 | 96 | 40 | 215 |
| 2019 | 63 | 297 | 69 | 27 | 201 |
| 2020 | 63 | 303 | 77 | 43 | 183 |
| 2021 | 71 | 347 | 64 | 57 | 226 |
| 2022 | 81 | 478 | 107 | 87 | 284 |
| 2023 | 78 | 396 | 66 | 70 | 260 |
| 2024 | 57 | 373 | 61 | 71 | 241 |
Two patterns stand out. Violent crime has stayed in a narrow band, between 57 and 87 offenses a year, and 2024's 57 was the lowest of the decade. The 2024 violent total was 2 homicides, 4 rapes, 12 robberies and 39 aggravated assaults. Property crime is less steady: it fell to 297 in 2019, climbed to a ten-year high of 478 in 2022, and was 373 in 2024. Vehicle theft rose by about a third over the decade, from 53 in 2015 to 71 in 2024, after peaking at 87 in 2022.
Between 2019 and 2024, the city's violent count fell 9.5% and its property count rose 25.6%. Over the same five years, Orange County as a whole saw violent crime rise 43.5% and property crime fall 10.4%; the statewide changes were up 8.6% and down 10.9%. With a population of about 35,100 (Census ACS 2020-2024), a few dozen reports can move a yearly percentage a long way, so read the run of years rather than any single change.
How San Juan Capistrano compares with nearby South County cities
Counts favor small cities, so the fair comparison is a rate. The table divides each city's 2024 DOJ counts by its Census ACS 2020-2024 population and shows crimes per 1,000 residents. Like San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills all contract with the sheriff, and the DOJ reports each as a separate city.
| City (2024) | Population (ACS 2020-2024) | Violent crimes | Violent per 1,000 | Property crimes | Property per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Juan Capistrano | 35,095 | 57 | 1.6 | 373 | 10.6 |
| Dana Point | 32,790 | 61 | 1.9 | 283 | 8.6 |
| San Clemente | 63,273 | 112 | 1.8 | 782 | 12.4 |
| Laguna Niguel | 64,139 | 78 | 1.2 | 564 | 8.8 |
| Mission Viejo | 92,151 | 92 | 1.0 | 1,064 | 11.5 |
| Rancho Santa Margarita | 46,990 | 37 | 0.8 | 239 | 5.1 |
| Laguna Hills | 30,740 | 72 | 2.3 | 338 | 11.0 |
San Juan Capistrano's violent rate sits in the middle of this group, and its property rate is the fourth highest of the seven. One likely factor is the city's role as a visitor and shopping destination. Mission San Juan Capistrano, the Los Rios Historic District, the Amtrak and Metrolink station one block from the mission, and the downtown shops along Camino Capistrano, the old route of US 101, draw many visitors, and a per-resident rate counts their thefts against residents only. In 2023, the same calculation gives about 2.2 violent and 11.3 property crimes per 1,000.
What San Juan Capistrano's property crime actually is
Most reported crime in the city is theft, and most of that theft is from stores and cars. Of the 241 larceny-thefts in 2024, the DOJ breakdown shows 95 shoplifting cases, 58 thefts from vehicles, 23 thefts of vehicle parts and accessories, 28 thefts from buildings, 2 bicycle thefts, 1 purse-snatching and 34 in the catch-all "other" category. Shoplifting alone made up about a quarter of all property crime.
Burglary in San Juan Capistrano homes and businesses
Of the 61 burglaries in 2024, 32 were residential and 29 were of shops, offices and other non-residential buildings. Residential burglaries have ranged from 28 in 2021 to 56 in 2015 over the decade, so 2024 was near the low end. Burglary is the figure most homeowners care about, and it is a small part of the city's total.
Clearance rates for San Juan Capistrano crimes
The DOJ file also counts clearances, meaning offenses closed by an arrest or by exceptional means. In 2024 deputies cleared 34 of 57 violent crimes in the city, about 60%, and 74 of 373 property crimes, about 20%. Statewide that year, police cleared about 44% of violent and 10% of property crimes. Even so, most thefts in the city go unsolved, so cameras, locked cars and a home inventory do more for a homeowner than any ranking.
Arson reports in San Juan Capistrano
The same DOJ file counts arson separately from the crime totals above. San Juan Capistrano reported 17 arsons in 2024, against 3 in 2023 and none in 2020 or 2021. The file does not say what was burned or whether the fires were linked, so ask the sheriff's police services office if the number matters to you.
How to check crime near a San Juan Capistrano address
No official source breaks the city's crime figures down by neighborhood, which is why we do not name the safest parts of town. These tools let you look at a specific street yourself.
California DOJ OpenJustice for San Juan Capistrano
OpenJustice is the source for every count on this page. Choose San Juan Capistrano as the agency to see crimes, clearances, arrests and arson back to 1985. It is the most consistent long-run series, but it covers the whole city by calendar year only.
Orange County Sheriff crime map and crime stats by area
The sheriff's San Juan Capistrano patrol area page links to a city crime map on CrimeMapping.com and to a countywide Crime Stats by Area tool. The map plots recent incidents by location, which is the closest you can get to a street-level view. Look at several months, not a week, and remember that locations are often rounded to the block.
FBI Crime Data Explorer for San Juan Capistrano
The FBI's Crime Data Explorer carries the figures reported to the national program and calculates rates and trends. Check which agency a figure is filed under, since sheriff-contract cities can appear separately from the sheriff's own unincorporated totals. If a year looks very different from the DOJ file, the cause is often a change in how incidents were counted rather than a change in crime.
Megan's Law and reports for a specific address
Search any address on the state's Megan's Law site. For a copy of a specific incident report, use the sheriff's report request page linked from the patrol area page, or call police services during office hours.
Rancho Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch and other addresses outside the city
Some homes that buyers search for as San Juan Capistrano sit outside the city. Rancho Mission Viejo, which borders the city on the east, and Ladera Ranch are unincorporated communities in ZIP 92694, so their crimes are filed under the sheriff's unincorporated figures. Confirm the jurisdiction of any address on the tax bill or with the county before you rely on one set of numbers; our San Juan Capistrano ZIP codes guide shows where the lines fall.
Flood, fire and earthquake risk in San Juan Capistrano
For many buyers the larger cost questions are natural hazards, not crime. The city's own emergency preparedness page calls flooding one of the area's most likely disasters and lists earthquakes, flash flooding, landslides and wildfires among the hazards residents should plan for. Creek channels cross the valley floor, and the hills on the east side of the city meet open space; the city counts more than 3,000 acres of permanent open space within its 14 square miles.
Fire hazard zone and evacuation readiness in San Juan Capistrano
Look up the address on CAL FIRE's fire hazard severity zone map; our California wildfire zones guide explains what each zone means for a sale. OCFA runs the Ready, Set, Go program on defensible space and evacuation planning, and the county sends emergency alerts through AlertOC.
Flood maps and disclosures for a San Juan Capistrano home
Check the address on FEMA's flood maps and on Cal OES MyHazards, especially for homes near the creek channels or on hillside lots. These hazards appear on the Natural Hazard Disclosure statement the seller must give you; see our California seller disclosure guide. Get insurance quotes early, using the California homeowners insurance guide and, if a standard insurer declines, the FAIR Plan guide.
Checks before you buy or rent in San Juan Capistrano
- Read at least five years of the city's DOJ counts rather than the latest year alone.
- Confirm whether the address is inside the city or in unincorporated Rancho Mission Viejo or Ladera Ranch.
- Look at the sheriff's crime map for the surrounding streets over several months, and visit on a weekend afternoon as well as a weekday evening, when traffic near the mission and the train station is very different.
- Search the address on the Megan's Law site.
- Check the fire hazard zone, flood zone and any landslide history on the disclosures.
- Get homeowners insurance quotes before you remove your contingencies.
- In a gated or private community, ask the association what security it pays for and what incidents it has recorded.
For the wider picture, see is San Juan Capistrano a good place to live and the San Juan Capistrano city guide. Our safest places to live in California guide compares cities across the state using the same DOJ source.