“Safe neighborhoods are the foundation of a safe city.”
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke those words as he joined Chief Charlie Beck for the termed-out mayor’s last quarterly crime report before he leaves office June 30.
Chief Beck and Mayor Villaraigosa reported declines in every major category in each of the Department’s bureaus over the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2012. Homicides dropped 12 percent, from 75 in 2012 to 66 this year. If that pace holds, the city would finish 2013 below last year’s historic low of 298 killings.
Rapes dropped 39.8 percent from 206 to 124; robberies decreased by 13.2 percent from 2,122 to 1,842 and aggravated assaults declined by 11.3 percent from 1,965 to 1,743.
In all, violent crimes were down by 13.6 percent from 4,368 to 3,775 and property crimes declined by 6.8 percent from 21,262 to 19,826. Total gang crimes were down by 20.5 percent from 986 to 784 and gang-related homicides dropped 29.3 percent from 41 to 29.
Of course, if you were a victim of a crime during the reporting period, the citywide statistics are no comfort. Nor should the statistics lead anyone to conclude that public safety need not be our City’s No. 1 priority going forward. To the contrary, the next L.A. mayor must make public safety the centerpiece of his or her policy and budget priorities if we are to continue the decade-long reduction in crime rates.
We were pleased to hear the mayor pledge that the city budget he will submit for the next fiscal year beginning July 1 will continue to reflect a commitment to a 10,000-member police force and continued anti-gang efforts.
As he looks back on eight years in office, the mayor can take pride in knowing he served the second largest city in America at a time when crime rates fell to levels not seen since the 1950s. For that, undoubted he would thank the dedicated men and women of the LAPD who police what remains – let no one forget – the most under-policed big city in the nation.
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