Murders Drop 16% in 1st Quarter; Robberies Up

Murders in the city declined 16% in the first quarter but robberies, burglaries and rapes all increased, police said.

In the first three months of this year, 197 people were murdered, compared to 234 killed for the same period in 1990, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics released Monday.

But seven of the 10 major crime categories had increases, paced by a 9.6% jump in robberies from 8,106 in the first quarter of 1990 to 8,880 this year. Also increasing were burglaries, up 6.8% from 12,935 to 13,820, and rapes, up 3.6% from 414 to 429.