Crime Dips in Sheriff’s Jurisdiction

Major crime decreased slightly in 1995 in areas of Los Angeles County served by the Sheriff’s Department, according to newly released statistics.

Sheriff Sherman Block, in a year-end report, said the number of liability lawsuits pending against the department also has sunk dramatically in the last three years, saving the public millions of dollars.

Overall, the violent crimes of criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault were down 4% in 1995. Adding burglary, larceny theft, grand theft auto and arson to those categories brings the decline to 5%.

Block cautioned, however, that while the decline in some categories was substantial in the first six months of the year, the last six months saw increases.

The figures are based on statistics from the first 11 months of the year and estimates for December.

The Sheriff’s Department is responsible for law enforcement in unincorporated areas of the county and 39 cities that contract with the department. Altogether, the areas patrolled have a population of close to 3 million.

Statistics released by Block showed that criminal homicides dropped from 421 in 1994 to 414 in 1995.

Robberies were down from 9,749 to 8,647. Aggravated assaults were virtually the same, 20,680 compared to 20,687 in 1994. There were slightly more forcible rapes, increasing to 695 from 684.

Burglaries dropped from 24,134 in 1994 to 22,277 in 1995, grand theft auto declined from 24,997 to 22,502, arson went down from 1,118 to 992 and larceny theft eased slightly, from 42,976 to 42,827.

The first six months saw declines of 13% in homicides, 11% in rapes and 17% in robberies compared to the same months of the year before. But homicides were up in the second six months by 9% and rapes were up 14%. Robberies declined 6%.

No crime figures for the city of Los Angeles were included in Block’s statistics.

Block said a new risk management system developed by the department and the county counsel’s office, in which special teams go to violent situations likely to result in liability claims and try to quickly settle them, has sharply reduced the number of lawsuits against the department.

On Dec. 11, he said, 289 such lawsuits were pending, as compared with 811 cases pending on Jan. 1, 1992.

A spokesman for County Counsel Dewitt W. Clinton said that the amounts paid in settlements and judgments for lawsuits and claims against the department was $26.2 million in fiscal 1991-92, $13.5 million in 1992-93, $15 million in 1993-94 and $11.9 million in 1994-95.

Those figures do not include a recent $15.9-million judgment against the department in a case involving assaults by deputies against a group of Samoan Americans. That judgment is being appealed, so there has been no payout yet.

The spokesman said the costs of mounting the county’s defenses against the lawsuits and claims was $11.8 million in fiscal 1992-93, $8 million in 1993-94 and $8 million in 1994-95. No figures were available on defense costs in 1991-92.

Attorney Merrick Bobb, assigned by the Board of Supervisors to monitor the progress of reforms in the Sheriff’s Department, said he was “very heartened” that the sheriff’s risk management program is beginning to show significant savings for county taxpayers.