State Crime Rate Drops 3.3% in ’87

California’s crime rate dropped by 3.3% in 1987, despite an increase in drug arrests, the state attorney general’s office reported.

Because of the stepped-up drug arrests and new crime-prevention programs, the burglary rate fell 10.5% in 1987, compared to the previous year, officials said.

Drug violations accounted for nearly 30% of the more than 490,000 felony arrests in 1987, an increase of about 4% over 1986. During the last five years, drug arrests have increased 96.8%, the Bureau of Crime Statistics’ annual study of six major crime categories said.