Crime Rates Continue Record 7-Year Plunge

Crime plummeted nationwide in 1998 for a record seventh straight year, with Los Angeles boasting an even steeper decline than the rest of the country, according to FBI figures released Sunday.

Throughout all regions of the country, in cities and rural areas alike, fewer Americans were robbed, burglarized, assaulted, raped or murdered last year than the year before, the FBI data showed.

In Los Angeles, the number of serious crimes in the city fell 10.2% last year from 1997, outstripping a national decline of 7%. Murders in Los Angeles dropped even more dramatically, falling 26% to a 28-year low of 426. Nationwide, murders fell 8% from the previous year.

Other Southern California cities also showed impressive drop-offs. Norwalk, Burbank, Riverside and San Bernardino registered reductions in serious crime of more than 15%, and Palmdale, Costa Mesa, Anaheim, Long Beach and other communities saw double-digit declines.

“Today’s report is simply great news,” said Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, the nation’s top law enforcement officer. “For seven straight years, each and every year, serious crime has fallen. That means safer streets, fewer victims and greater peace of mind for all Americans.”

The FBI began collecting crime data nationwide in 1930, but never before has there been such a prolonged period of declining crime, said Mary Victoria Pyne of the bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting program.

Law enforcement experts credited a variety of factors, including a booming economy and declining unemployment, greater attention to community-based policing, more prison beds and tougher sentencing in some areas through measures such as California’s “three strikes” law. But they stressed that no one factor can explain the downward spiral.

For all the encouraging signs, the new data only underscored the schism between the statistical trends on crime and the perceptions of a public still very skittish over the issue.

Media Fuel Crime Perceptions, Some Say

Although some polls show public fears easing in recent years, a Gallup survey in October found that 56% of those polled believed there was still more crime in the United States than five years earlier.

Such sentiments have helped drive anti-crime and gun control initiatives in Washington and Sacramento, an effort redoubled by the Littleton, Colo., school massacre.

Lt. Anthony Alba, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said the media coverage that surrounds high-profile crimes fuels such perceptions.

“That’s one of [LAPD Chief Bernard Park’s] main concerns, that there’s this erroneous perception that crime is on the rise, out of control. It really is frustrating to all of us in law enforcement,” Alba said.

“The reality is that crime is decreasing, and we should be celebrating that,” he said. “Obviously, the entire department is elated with the news that the statistics continue to drop even below the national average.”

Petty theft, which includes purse-snatching and shoplifting, was the most common crime in Los Angeles, with nearly 80,000 offenses. The total number of petty thefts dipped only slightly in 1998.

Robbery, arson and car theft in Los Angeles all saw huge declines well exceeding national averages. Nationwide, robbery had the biggest decrease of any of the eight crimes of property and violence tracked by the FBI, declining 11%. Auto theft was close behind.

The numbers reflect preliminary FBI crime totals for 1998 from the bureau’s survey of more than 10,000 city, county and state law enforcement agencies.

Final totals, including crime rates per 100,000 inhabitants, showing which cities are considered safest, are due in the fall.

The downward trend held true no matter which region of the country was tabulated, officials said. The West and the Northeast had the biggest overall drop in crime, with each showing an 8% decline.

One of the few blips came in suburban areas, where murders increased slightly in 1998 despite declines in every other type of crime. The issue of crime in the suburbs has drawn particular attention in the wake of the high school massacre in Littleton, a placid suburb of Denver.

So far in 1999, the decline shows no signs of reversing in Los Angeles.

Through early May, LAPD data show that total crime is down 12.9% from a year ago, with burglaries and rapes showing particularly sharp declines. Robberies, assaults and murders are down as well.

“We’re certainly hoping we can keep it going,” Alba said.