La Habra : City Registers 5% Drop in Violent Crimes

Crime here went down in 1994, city officials announced.

In a report released this month by City Manager Lee Risner, violent crimes including homicide, rape, robbery and assault decreased by 5% last year, while the number of arrests for such crimes increased 14.8%.

Risner said no homicides were reported in 1994.

In addition, fatal or injury accidents decreased by 6.5% while other traffic accidents decreased by 9.26%.

Risner credited the city’s community policing program for the decrease in crime. He said he expects to continue seeing a decrease in crime in the city this year because a federal grant will fund stepped-up community policing efforts.

But other programs also contribute to the crime decline, he said.

“It should be noted that the efforts to reduce crime and anti-social behavior is multifaceted,” Risner said. “We believe that the results flow in part from such activities as creation of jobs for youth and other activities for youth historically provided and recently enhanced.”