Crime Rate in State’s Biggest Cities Declines : Police: Drop of 7% continues trend that started three years ago. Tough sentencing law is having an effect, Lungren says.

The crime rate in California’s biggest cities fell by an additional 7% during the first six months of 1995 compared to the same period last year, state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren reported Monday.

In a survey of crimes reported by the state’s largest police and sheriff’s departments, robberies plunged by 12.7%, forcible rapes by 10.8% and homicides by 10.6%, Lungren said. Lesser reductions were reported in assaults, down 2.3%; burglaries, off 6.3%, and automobile thefts, down 8.4%.

The figures reflected a continuing downturn in California’s crime rate that started three years ago, although Lungren credited enactment last year of the “three strikes” sentencing law for accelerating the trend. He also cited intensified use of “community-oriented” policing by local police departments.

In the past, some critics have accused Lungren of overplaying the impact of “three strikes” on the falling crime rate. They say the crime rate began falling before California passed the statute, which requires criminals to serve 25 years to life in prison for committing a third felony, while also boosting penalties for second felony offenses.

In a statement, Lungren, a potential Republican candidate for governor in 1998, said there was “just no way to ignore the positive impact” of the law. “California’s drop in crime is outperforming similar downward trends in other parts of the nation,” he said.

The six-month figures were drawn from reports of 63 police and sheriff’s departments in cities and counties of more than 100,000, which account for about 60% of the crimes committed in California.

In Los Angeles county, the crime rate fell 9.3%, the report said, including these reductions: homicides, 7.8%; rapes, 18.0%; robberies, 17.1%; assaults, 8.4%.

For the city of Los Angeles, the report said, the overall crime rate fell by 5.7%, including homicides, 4.3%; rapes, 10.6%; robberies 6.6%, and assaults, 3.0%.

For Orange County, the overall rate during the period fell by 12.7%, the report said, although some figures from some categories were incomplete. Homicide fell only slightly, by 1.6%, while robberies plunged 27.3%.

In addition to the “three strikes” law, Lungren attributed the lower crime rate to the intensified redeployment of police officers from desk duties to neighborhood beats. Some call the practice “community-oriented policing.”

“It should be utilized in every part of the state,” Lungren said. He said closer community contact has helped build citizen confidence in law enforcement, which he termed a “crucial element of public safety that has at times in the past been ignored.”

The report measured the state’s crime rate only in broad strokes for the first six months of the year and did not examine demographic and other details that help make the picture complete. The attorney general is expected to release soon a report on juvenile criminals, who have become increasingly aggressive and vicious.