17% Drop in Gang Killings Reported in South-Central

Citing a “massive law enforcement effort” in recent months, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Monday that gang-related murders in South-Central Los Angeles have dropped by 17% since the start of the year.

During the first eight months of 1988, according to LAPD statistics, there were 82 gang-related killings in South-Central, compared to 99 in the area during the same period in 1987.

The latest LAPD figures on gang violence in South-Central represent a dramatic statistical turnaround since the first few months of 1988--primarily the result of a 50% reduction in gang murders there in July and August.

Largely because of the South-Central murder statistics, the LAPD reported that gang-related murders throughout Los Angeles also were down at the end of August for the first time this year, although by the slimmest of margins--143 compared to 144.

Cmdr. William Booth, chief LAPD spokesman, said the LAPD’s massive task force operations in South-Central since late February and other anti-gang strategies have been major factors contributing to the decline in gang-related homicides.

“We owe a lot to a very supportive community,” Booth added. “The community not only supports anti-gang narcotic efforts, but literally has demanded that we go into that community in large numbers to disassemble the gangs.”

In contrast to the LAPD statistics, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported a continuing rise in gang-related homicides in its territory. During the first eight months of the year, the Sheriff’s Department reported 62 gang-related homicides, compared to 50 during the same period in 1987--a 24% increase.

Commenting on the different approaches of the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department toward gang activity, Sgt. Wes McBride of the Sheriff’s Department’s Operation Safe Streets anti-gang program said the Sheriff’s Department lacks the personnel to conduct large task force operations.

“We can’t field 1,000 guys,” he said. “Obviously, I would think that if you keep putting task force operations on the street, it will affect statistics. “

Although Booth was clearly pleased by the statistical change in South-Central, he stopped short of saying that LAPD’s task force approach has effected any permanent change in gang activity there, stressing that LAPD’s large-scale operations are primarily short-range responses to gang activity.

“This trend is encouraging,” Booth said. “This should not suggest this is the ultimate solution. We have to view this kind of saturation enforcement as being short-term programs. The real answer to the gang problem is in the long-term programs of prevention.”

Booth also noted that besides the drop in gang-related murders, there has been a much larger decline in homicide generally throughout Los Angeles in 1988--with 444 murders compared to 537 in the first eight months of 1987.

In South-Central Los Angeles, Booth said, there were 204 murders in the first eight months of the year, compared to 281 during the same period in 1987--a drop of 27.4%.

The South-Central statistics were compiled from the LAPD’s Newton, Southwest, Southeast and 77th divisions. They showed that after a general monthly rise in gang killings during 1988, gang-related homicides dropped in July from 15 to 8 and in August from 17 to 8.

The decline in gang-related homicides follows a drop in other categories of gang crime in the South-Central area. According to the LAPD, overall gang crime is down 8.5%, gang robberies have dropped 26% and gang rapes are down 13% for the year.