No Homicides Reported in Area in December

The Los Angeles Police Department’s normally crime-plagued Newton Division in South-Central Los Angeles finished 1990 with no homicides during the last month of the year, a division first, police said.

The Newton Division patrol area, which extends from the south end of downtown to Florence Avenue, west to the Harbor Freeway and east to the Los Angeles River, encompasses gang turf and several blocks of warehouses bordering railroad yards and Skid Row.

Police said December is typically Newton’s worst month for homicides. Anticipating the possibility of a record number of violent deaths, commanders put more officers on the streets and took a harder stand against gang members. The Newton Division logged 123 homicides in 1990.

The division also had three officer-involved shootings last month, far above the area’s norm, police said. In one of the shootings, an officer was wounded in the leg.