Violent Crime on Decline for 5th Year in L.A.

Carrying a promising trend into its fifth year, violent crime dropped across Los Angeles in the first half of this year, with nearly every police station showing declines in either homicides, rapes, robberies or assaults.

Los Angeles Police Department officials attribute the decline partly to more aggressive community crime prevention efforts and partly to the three-strikes law, which might have deterred criminals with prior records.

The latest LAPD crime statistics, which mirror state trends, show an overall 5.1% decrease in violent crime from January to June of this year compared to the same six-month period last year. Overall reported crime, including car thefts and burglaries, fell 8.7% in the first half of the year, the statistics made public Tuesday show.

The number of killings jumped slightly in the first half of the year across the city--378 compared to 373 last year. But citywide declines in such crimes as robberies and assaults attributed to the overall drop.

Property crimes, including car thefts and burglaries, declined by a citywide total of 10%, the LAPD data shows. Police attribute that decrease to more sophisticated alarm systems and to greater vigilance by neighborhood residents and activists.

“Crime is the No. 1 issue on everyone’s minds,” said LAPD Cmdr. Tim McBride. “We have the community involved more than ever before, working in their neighborhoods to reduce crime. People are making it harder--plain and simple.”

But while they are buoyed by the latest numbers, LAPD officials said they are concerned about a continuing public perception that the city is unsafe.

“‘I think there’s still a fear of crime,” said Dan Hoffman, a spokesman for the Valley Bureau. “People don’t realize that L.A. is, in fact, better than most cities.”

The latest crime data comes on the heels of a new report showing a dramatic decline in arrests by the city’s police department. A recent study, prepared at the request of Mayor Richard Riordan, found that the drop was due mainly to the department’s new focus on community-based policing.

But the new figures also mirror a recent statewide report showing the crime rate last year dropped to its lowest level in 25 years.

In Los Angeles, the Hollenbeck police station, which covers East Los Angeles, showed the most dramatic decline in violent crime--15.6%. While Capt. Bruce Hagerty, who oversees the Hollenbeck station, said the drop can’t be attributed to one single factor, he said officers have focused heavily on the area’s high-crime streets with more patrols and special task forces.

But he warned that cuts in the budget for overtime pay might reverse the trend. “I’m worried that repressible crime could go up because of the cuts,” Hagerty said. “We’re going to watch that very closely.”

In the San Fernando Valley, all but the West Valley police station showed declines in violent crimes. The Devonshire police station, which covers an area that includes Northridge and North Hills, showed the sharpest decrease--nearly 12%.

“Even experts disagree on why this is happening,” said Capt. Vance Proctor, who oversees the Devonshire station. “But we’ve really made narcotics street sales and [drug] possession a priority . . . and that’s affected crime in our area.”

The West Valley station, which covers an area that includes Reseda and Woodland Hills, showed a 3.3% increase in violent crime and a marked jump in assaults. West Valley Capt. Val Paniccia said, however, that the numbers are small to begin with, so any minor increase can skew the statistics.

Nonetheless, he said, domestic violence reports have increased, partly because of a heightened awareness of the problem throughout the city. The number of assaults, including domestic violence cases, jumped from 754 to 824 in the first half of this year.

“It’s happening behind closed doors, but more people are reporting it,” Paniccia said.

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Valley Crime Tally

Incidents of violent crime in the San Fernando Valley have dropped for the first six months of this year. The number of rapes increased slightly compared to the same period last year. Shown below are Valley Bureau figures for the first six months of the past three years:

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Homicide

1996: 33

Rape

1996: 211

Robbery

1996: 2,358

Aggravated Assault

1996: 4,710

Source: Los Angeles Police Department