As Los Angeles gets ready to hire hundreds more police officers and spend more on its police force, new figures show that crime has gone down slightly in 2023.
By May 20, the number of serious crimes in L.A. had dropped by more than 10% compared to the same time last year. The number of property crimes went down by a little more than 1%, and the number of charges went up by 4.4%.
In contrast, both violent and property crimes went up in the first five months of 2022. The drop in violent crime this year will bring the total for 2023 close to what it was in 2021, but property crime will still be much higher than it was two years ago.
The Police Department shared more good news in a tweet on Tuesday: There were almost 6% fewer hate crimes, more than 27% fewer murders, and 17% fewer shooting deaths. But almost 7% more people died in car accidents.
From 2022 to 2023, the number of arrests for theft nearly doubled, but the number of charges for murder and car theft both went down by 19% and 27%, respectively.
Los Angeles isn’t the only place in California where crime is going down.
Whoa! Crime is down across the board but for some reason the LAPD asked for more money this year. Weird!!! https://t.co/bnPaDF2n0P
— People's City Council – Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) May 30, 2023
Even though there was a lot of criticism after the death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, police data show that crime in San Francisco has gone down by almost 7% in the first five months of the year. In the first three months of 2023, violence and property crimes in San Jose went down by about 8%.
The Sheriff’s Department says that the most serious crimes in West Hollywood, called “Part 1 offenses,” like rape, murder, grand theft, and car burglary, were down 9% from October to April compared to the same period in 2021 and 2022. Armed thefts fell by 40%.
But even though serious crimes are going down in Los Angeles, Black women and girls are still more likely to be victims than any other group, says a study from the city’s civil rights department.
Using data from the LAPD, the study found that even though Black women only make up 4.3% of the city’s population, they are often between 25% and 33% of the people who get hurt there.
A recent rise in drug use, a rise in crime, and a growing number of drug overdose deaths on Metro trains and buses have led transit officials to look into ways to make the huge transit system safer.
Tom Saggau, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file officers, told The Times that his group is glad that Mayor Karen Bass is trying to “rebuild the LAPD after years of neglect.”
“This decline in staffing didn’t start with Mayor Bass,” Saggau said. “But we hope it all ends with Mayor Bass.”
Bass’s budget shows that he wants to hire 1,000 police officers starting in July. This is a net increase of about 400 officers since about 600 officers are expected to quit or retire. But some critics ask if the department doesn’t need to grow. As of May 6, the city had a total of 9,059 cops with badges.
The only council member to vote against the budget was Eunisses Hernandez. She complained that the city puts “a quarter of our entire budget into just one department” while other agencies fight to get money.
The People’s City Council, a liberal group that wants to get rid of the cops, tweeted, “Crime is down everywhere, but the LAPD asked for more money this year.”