Los Angeles police were targeted in 527 attacks this year, a 17 percent drop from 2007, officials said Monday.

Violence against Los Angeles Police Department officials in 2008 involved the slaying of SWAT Officer Randal Simmons in a Winnetka shootout, 168 assaults with deadly weapons and 358 attacks from punching and shoving to kicking.

The decline of crime against Los Angeles police follows the 15 percent slide in crime rates across the city - where homicides in July plummeted to 1970s levels.

But the number of attacks on LAPD officers are still grossly out of proportion from what they should be, said Paul M. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which released the figures.

"If residents of Los Angeles are experiencing 1970 crime levels, you would think you would see a corresponding level with police, and you're not," said Weber. "You're seeing violence against police officers that's totally unacceptable."

July was notable for its 19 homicides in the city, the lowest one-month crime level since July 1970, when there were 31 killings. Last year, there were 633 assaults on police officers, 388 of which involved bodily force.

Gunmen shot two officers in 2007. Officer Mark Wilbur of the San Fernando Valley's Mission Division was hit in the thigh while responding to a call in the 14000 block of Nordhoff Street. Officer Andrew Taylor was shot near MacArthur Park.

Weber said there was a lack of outrage about the attacks from residents, community leaders and city officials, which he said was "mind-boggling."