Violence Led Valley Crime Increase, Police Say

While overall reported crime in the San Fernando Valley grew at a slightly slower pace than in the rest of the city of Los Angeles in 1989, area police on Tuesday voiced concern about large increases in crimes against persons such as robbery and aggravated assault.

Crime statistics released by the Los Angeles Police Department show a citywide increase of 8.2% in such crimes as homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, auto theft and other thefts.

In the Valley, the increase was 7.9%, according to the statistics. Police took a total of 85,344 crime reports, compared to 79,071 in the previous year.

The statistics included good and bad news for Valley residents, said Cmdr. Chet Spencer of the Valley Bureau, which includes five police divisions.

Spencer said burglaries declined by 4.5% and auto thefts were up by 7.1%, a less severe increase than in 1988 when auto thefts jumped 12.4% during the year.

But Spencer said the improvement seen in those property crimes was offset by disturbing trends in crimes against people.

The number of homicides remained the same at 109 in both 1988 and 1989, statistics showed. But reported rapes rose by 3% from 432 to 445 in 1989 and robberies and aggravated assaults jumped sharply.

Robberies in the Valley were up 20% to 4,638 reports and aggravated assaults grew by 22.4% to 9,736 reports.

“Every area of the Valley experienced an increase in aggravated assaults,” Spencer said. “The robbery situation has become a real problem.”

Spencer said several factors appear to be responsible for the shift from property crimes to the more violent crimes against persons.

Chief among those reasons are increased gang and drug activity in the Valley. Police said gang turf disputes, competition among drug dealers and the liaisons between drug sellers and buyers continually lead to many of the violent confrontations that become end of the year crime statistics.

“In the overall picture, the gangs and drugs have had their impact,” Spencer said.

Spencer noted that police in the Valley created an auto theft task force that slowed the growth in that crime and that Valley residents have become more security conscious and are taking more steps to protect their property, preventing more burglaries.

A Los Angeles Times Poll of the Valley published in November found that in the past year a quarter of the residents had taken steps--from installing burglar bars and alarms to buying guns and dogs--to protect themselves and their property from crime.

Valley statistics included a 14.2% increase in crime in the Devonshire Division, which includes Chatsworth, Northridge, Granada Hills and parts of Mission Hills, West Hills, Canoga Park and Sepulveda.

That was the largest jump of any of the five Valley divisions, and Spencer blamed it on drug-related crime problems in areas of Sepulveda. In late 1989, police barricaded a 12-block neighborhood in an effort to stop drug dealing and crime. A nearby neighborhood is scheduled to receive similar roadblocks later this month.

Also, the statistics showed that murders in the Foothill Division--including the areas of Pacoima, Sylmar, Lake View Terrace and part of Sun Valley--dropped from 45 in 1988 to 30 last year. However, the decrease was made up for in the Van Nuys Division, where homicides rose from 18 to 30.

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