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Number of Major Crimes Declines, Sheriff Says

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block on Wednesday announced a “significant decline” in the number of major crimes reported during the first five months of this year compared to 1993.

In the areas patrolled by sheriff’s deputies, homicides were down 8%, rapes 23%, robberies 8%, aggravated assaults 20%, burglaries 11%, larceny theft 8%, auto theft 6% and arson 4% through May. Later statistics were not available.

Block said the period is too short to draw conclusions about the causes for the decline. He speculated that the state’s new “three strikes” law, mandating life terms for people convicted of three felonies, might be a factor.

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Block said state corrections officials report that they have noticed that a number of prison inmates possess outlines of the “three strikes” law and seem determined not to fall within its provisions.

“So that is having an impact,” said the sheriff, who has criticized the law on grounds that it would fill the prisons and add substantially to law enforcement costs.

The Sheriff’s Department is responsible for patrolling areas of Los Angeles County with a combined population of more than 2.5 million.

The statistics released Wednesday show that through May, 1994, 169 homicides were committed in those areas, compared to 183 in the same period in 1993.

Rapes went down from 372 to 288, robberies from 4,500 to 4,125, assaults from 10,960 to 8,777, burglaries from 11,478 to 10,210, larceny thefts from 19,077 to 17,505, auto thefts from 11,339 to 10,628 and arson cases from 428 to 412.

All these major crimes together declined from 58,337 to 52,114, the department said.

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