Dispatch, Feb. 8, 2007: Reader Response

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Thanks to readers for an enthusiastic response to the launch of the Homicide Report. The most common response so far has been surprise over the large number of homicides listed on the site.

‘The sheer volume is shocking,’ one reader wrote. Wrote another: ‘A lot of us on the gentler end of that equation can lose sight of what’s happening to others in our city ... Los Angeles really is a variety of different experiences depending on where you live, how much you earn and what color you are.’

Some also found it grim reading: ‘It is a noble effort, to be sure, but is it ever depressing -- almost like they’re disposable people,’ a third reader wrote. And from another: ‘I couldn’t shake off a disturbing feeling about the whole thing.’ Finally, a reader from Canada with this thought: ‘My main knowledge about crime in L.A. comes from Michael Connelly novels. This column is much scarier.’

Thanks especially to those readers who have offered specific information about homicides, and to those who have contacted the Homicide Report about helicopters or crime scenes in their neighborhoods. The Homicide Report will follow up on such tips.

Also thanks for the many suggestions. Many readers contacted us to request maps and charts. The Times is working on adding maps to the site to show where homicides occur, so keep coming back. Also in the works is more detail about specific homicides, updates, arrest information, and information about the adjudication of cases. ‘I simply want to know how it was that this particular child was killed in that particular way on that particular day,’ one reader wrote in reference to the killing of young Daniel Martinez in the San Fernando Valley, listed below.

Finally, several people e-mailed the site with criticisms. The most common: readers asked why the Homicide Report includes information on the race and ethnicity of victims. ‘Your relentless effort to catalogue the victims by race adds to their dehumanization,’ one reader wrote. The Homicide Report will address this issue in a subsequent posting.