Reported Crimes at Schools Show Rise and Enigma

Reports of crimes involving students rose 29% in the Los Angeles school district in 1985-86, with the steepest increases in the assault and sex offense categories, according to a recently released district report.

The figures also showed that reports of drug possession or sale dropped 12% over the same period.

A district official says, however, that the bad news may not be so bad, and the good news may be misleading, too.

The annual report by school district police showed an increase in nine crime categories--including robbery, assault, sex offenses, burglary, theft, arson, vandalism and loitering. But Associate Supt. Jerry Halverson said the 29% overall rise was largely the result of an abnormally high level of child-abuse reporting, which he said probably was prompted by the publicity surrounding the recent cases of a Los Angeles teacher convicted of molesting students and of the school district administrator who was charged with failing to promptly report the allegations to the police.

“I would not want anyone to think that crimes have not increased,” Halverson said. “Crimes in the district have increased. But 29% is not a useful figure. It’s influenced so substantially by the child-abuse reporting that it loses meaning.”

Halverson said that the district is obligated by state law to collect data on school crime. But he noted that the figures may not accurately reflect actual crimes committed because they may include many alleged incidents that were not substantiated through an investigation or that were found to be groundless.

For example, Halverson cited one example of a case reported as child abuse--that of a football coach who severely scolded a player for dropping a pass. “The vast majority of the reports we get from students and others on child abuse do not constitute child abuse,” he said.

The official also said that the apparent 12% decrease in the school drug problem may not necessarily mean that students are using drugs less. Investigations by district police indicate that some drug-related activity may have merely shifted from school grounds to off-campus areas, Halverson said.

“It’s a real decrease in the number of young people who are caught on campus using, possessing or selling narcotics. We have reason to believe that we have effectively driven that activity off campus, but that it still continues off campus.”

In the sex offenses category, the district reported that the number of complaints rose from 332 in 1984-85 to 653 in 1985-86, a 97% rise. The largest number of reported sex offenses occurred in the North San Fernando Valley and western regions of the district.

In the assault category, district figures showed 1,096 reported incidents in 1984-85 and 1,900 in 1985-86, a 73% rise. The category covers a broad range of incidents, but the largest number involved fights between students in which no weapon was used. It also includes child-abuse complaints. The highest number of reported assaults occurred in the South-Central Los Angeles area of the district.

The third highest percentage increase occurred in arson and flooding, with the number of incidents rising 37%. Seventy cases of arson and flooding were reported, with arson making up the majority of complaints.

The largest number of crimes reported were burglaries, however, with 3,146 break-ins reported. Theft was the second largest category, with 2,680 reported cases.

Of the district’s eight administrative regions, the South-Central region led in the total number of crimes reported, with 2,502 complaints. The North San Fernando Valley was second, with 2,257 crimes reported.

In addition, the report showed that more young schoolchildren are becoming involved in criminal activity. Of 5,861 suspects apprehended last year by district police, 252 were children below the age of 10. Eighty were age 6.

Halverson said the apparent increase in the number of younger children involved in crimes is related to a countywide increase in gang activity. Increasingly, gangs are using youngsters to carry weapons or narcotics because they believe that police officers will be more lenient with a younger person, he said.