DOWNTOWN : Crime Continues Slide, Police Say

Despite a reputation as a no-man’s land by night and a car burglar’s playground by day, crime in Downtown has been decreasing for five years, according to recently released police statistics.

In the first three months of 1995, the Central Division, which covers a 4.2-square-mile commercial corridor, recorded the lowest number of reported crimes of the Los Angeles Police Department’s 18 divisions. Police said major crimes, particularly car break-ins and robberies, in the Central Division have dropped significantly.

Business groups with a stake in the economic resurrection of Downtown lauded the development, and last week honored police with a celebration at Pershing Square.

“We want to get the word out loud and clear that Downtown is, and has been for sometime, a safe and pleasant place to work, shop, live and play,” said Carol Shatz, president of the Central City Assn.

The Central Division covers such areas as the Civic Center, Skid Row, the Garment District, Olvera Street, South Park and Broadway. Although Downtown’s nighttime population is less than 50,000, its daytime population is 750,000 to 1 million.

Capt. Richard E. Bonneau, the station’s commander, credits the drop in crime to the division’s increased involvement with the community and progressive policing tactics.

“We have been trying to develop partnerships with different communities and having them identify their problems,” said Bonneau.

The creation of a citizen patrol in Little Tokyo has meant a reduction in car break-ins and panhandling, crimes that discourage tourism. Earlier this year, a similar citizen patrol was started in Chinatown.

“If there are people that are around watching and their purpose is to identify criminals, then those criminals go away,” Bonneau said.

A different tactic worked to help reduce car break-ins in an adult school parking lot by 60% in a few months. To address that problem, a police officer taught students ways to make their cars harder targets, such as keeping valuables out of sight, Bonneau said.

The division’s robberies, which went from 501 during the first quarter of 1994 to 306 by March 31 this year, are dropping because of the creation of the Hype Unit, he said. The eight-officer unit arrests heroin addicts, known as “hypes,” then go to court to make sure the judge is aware of any criminal record.

Most robberies in Downtown occur during drug sales and the victims are often the homeless of Skid Row.

Overall, homicides, robberies, rapes, car theft, car break-ins, aggravated assaults and burglaries have decreased 39% since 1989. In that year, there were 19,506 reported major crimes in Central Division, compared to 11,861 in 1994.