Murder Leads Increase of Violent Crime in City

In stark contrast to eight years of decreasing crime, Los Angeles’ murder rate has shot up nearly 25% this year, with most of the increase in the south and central areas of the city, the Los Angeles Police Department reported Wednesday.

Overall, violent crime in the nation’s second-largest city increased 9.2% through last Saturday. The steep rise runs counter to overall national trends.

The department also said officers have made 24.8% fewer arrests so far this year.

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks attributed the increase in murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults to a variety of factors, including heightened gang activity and the return of large numbers of parolees from state prison to the streets.

Appearing at a press conference, Parks was clearly unhappy with the statistics, but sought to put the best face possible on the spike in crime, saying that New York and Chicago have also seen increases.

However, a check with the New York and Chicago police departments found that neither city has experienced the sharp increase in violent crime seen in Los Angeles this year.

Sgt. Victor Ramos, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, said the number of murders in that city through last Sunday was identical to that in the same period a year earlier. Rapes were up slightly, felony assaults increased marginally and robberies showed a decrease.

In Chicago, police spokesman Sgt. Robert Cargie said, “There is no significant trend upward.” The number of murders in that city fell by 17% in the first half of this year. Rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults fell by smaller percentages. “It doesn’t appear there has been any particular spike,” Cargie said.

In addition to homicides, Los Angeles has seen increases in rapes, aggravated assaults, robberies, burglaries and auto thefts.

Parks offered a flippant answer when asked by a reporter why the number of homicides through last Saturday had jumped from 387 in the same period last year to 483.

“More people are dying,” he said curtly.

Asked if low morale in the department after the Rampart police corruption scandal and federal threats to file suit against the LAPD for an alleged pattern and practice of excessive force could be responsible for the diminished number of arrests, Parks said: “It could be a thousand reasons.”

Parks spoke beside maps that showed 76% of the city’s increase in homicides through mid-July occurred in the south and central parts of the city.

The report said that L.A.’s murder victims are almost exclusively black and Latino males between 17 and 32, and that most perpetrators are between 14 and 24. The most violent parts of the week are 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., Thursday to Sunday, the chief said.

To combat the rise in crime, Parks said, the LAPD is redeploying officers to the streets from other assignments. He said the department at times “dropped in deployment,” with fewer officers on the streets because of preparations for the Democratic National Convention.

Alarmed by the increases, Mayor Richard Riordan in September announced a program to increase spending on parks and recreation programs and to clean up depressed areas of the city.

Parks said the number of young people in the 14- to 24-year age range is increasing rapidly in the city and that demographic group can be a major factor in crime. He said the LAPD must work with the community as part of any strategy to reduce crime.

The crime report said LAPD officers made 126,600 arrests through last Saturday, down from 168,246 in the same period last year and 188,032 in the same period of 1998.

Parks did not respond when asked if officers are making fewer arrests because of concern about confronting suspects who might file complaints against them.

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Rising Violence

Bucking nationwide trends, violent crime in Los Angeles has increased sharply this year. These citywide figures compiled by the Los Angeles Police Department reflect crimes from Jan. 1 through Nov. 25 compared to the same period a year ago.

Source: Los Angeles Police Dept.