Over on the 49ers blog, Eric Branch is handling the disturbing breaking news of the Ray McDonald arrest on felony domestic violence charges involving his reportedly pregnant fiancee at a party at his home in San Jose Sunday morning.

This is one more extremely troubling incident in what has become an ugly pattern under Jim Harbaugh’s tenure. Since the beginning of 2012, when Harbaugh and Baalke had control of the team for almost a year, the 49ers lead the league in player arrests. That statistic comes from the San Diego Union-Tribune database, which tracks NFL arrests.

Ray McDonald is the 10th arrest in 32 months. In second place, according to the database, is Detroit, with nine. Tampa has had eight arrests and several teams are tied with seven: Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver and Minnesota. Harbaugh’s brother John has dealt with six arrests during that time frame. Stretch the period back to the beginning of Harbaugh’s tenure, in early 2011, and the 49ers end up tied for second – Minnesota leads the league with 14, but has since switched coaches.

Not all communities are equal. Some areas may be more forgiving when a high-profile player is involved in a crime (though, to be fair, many believe the 49ers have gotten more than their fair share of legal breaks over the years in the South Bay). But a direct Bay Area comparison is the Raiders, who have had only three players arrested in the same time period.

And, just because 49ers and their fan base measure everything against the Seahawks, Seattle has had five arrests since 2012.

The 49ers didn’t have any arrests in the first year under Harbaugh-Baalke. But something in the culture appears to have changed. Two players – Aldon Smith and McDonald, who was arrested on a DUI in 2012 – account for six of those ten arrests. That shouldn’t make anyone feel better about the 49ers problems. Repeat offenders are a clear sign that a message is not getting through. The team’s mishandling of the Aldon Smith issue, putting him on the field for practice just a couple of hours after his arrest last September on a DUI charge and then allowing him to play every defensive snap two days later, is an indication that the team might not have priorities in order when it comes to handling serious legal issues.

Something is wrong within the 49ers culture right now. The team wants to be viewed as one of the league’s elite but leading the league in arrests is not, I assume, what it has in mind.