Homicide, violent crime rates dropped in Los Angeles last year, officials say
Offenses that were analyzed were mainly violent crimes, including homicide, robbery, rape, aggravated assault and property crimes such as burglary and vehicle theft.
The message relayed to the public on Monday morning: crime is down.
Homicide rates in particular have decreased significantly, officials said, evidenced by a 14% decrease across the city in 2024 as compared to 2023. The number of victims who were shot also went down by approximately 19% year-over-year, according to officials.
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A 28% decrease in homicides was reported for LAPD's Valley Bureau in 2024 compared to 2023, and in the Hollenbeck Division, which encompasses the communities of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, Montecito Heights, Hermon, Rose Hills and Monterey Hills, homicides decreased in 2024 by 65%, the mayor's office stated.
'Homicides dropped in 2023 and again in 2024,' L.A. Mayor Bass said. 'Three of the four geographic bureaus within the LAPD saw a reduction in homicides.'
'The number of Angelenos shot decreased by 20%,' Bass added. 'Citywide violent crimes, which also decreased in 2023, fell again in 2024.'
It wasn't just homicides that officials analyzed, as data surrounding other violent crimes was also released Monday that showed aggravated assaults and rapes decreased; there were 2,371 fewer aggravated assault incidents and 97 fewer rapes in 2024, decreases of 10% and 6%, respectively.
Robbery rates remained flat, officials added.
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As for property crimes, which include burglary, vehicle theft, vehicle part theft and property theft, those rates decreased too. According to authorities, there were 7,259 fewer incidents regarding those offenses in 2024 as compared to 2023, which marks a nearly 7% decrease.
'Hundreds of arrests were made and more than $36 million in stolen merchandise recovered by the Organized Retail Crime Task Force to address retail theft in Los Angeles,' Mayor Bass' office said in a press release. 'More than 100 arrests were made by the Heavy Metal Task Force and thousands of pounds of copper wire recovered.'
Traffic safety crimes were also looked at, and the data found that felony hit-and-runs, deadly DUIs and fatal collisions all fell by 6.5%, 36.7% and 7%, respectively.
One good increase was reported: LAPD reported a four-year high of applications to join the department last November.
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Officials released a statement detailing the way the data is gathered, which can be viewed below.
In 2024, LAPD transitioned its data collection process to align with the federally reported National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in order to bring the Department in line with National reporting standard expectations as mandated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Many cities throughout the country underwent this change in prior years. This new system captures data on all offenses within a single incident, providing a more comprehensive view of crime. NIBRS also includes more data elements, such as victim and offender demographics, relationships, and the presence of weapons, enhancing crime analysis and reporting accuracy. For 2024, the Person and Property Crime statistics are a combination of the Summary Reporting System (SRS) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) standards, meaning data provided are the most accurate estimations due to the change in methodology for each category. Homicides and Victims Shot are counted by hand and not affected by the change in data procedure.
Looking to improve on their successes, both Bass and McDonnell pledged to keep working on the fight against crime, especially property crimes.
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