Major L.A. Crime Falls 3.2%; 2nd Yearly Drop

For the second consecutive year, reports of major crime in Los Angeles dropped in 1984, down an overall 3.2% from the year before, with burglaries falling 13.1%, police said Friday.

In a report to the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department listed 757 homicides in 1984, down 7.5% from 1983, and 2,380 rapes, down 5.7%. Overall, reports of serious crimes--including murder, rape, burglary and robbery--declined from 308,515 in 1983 to 298,555 last year.

Police attributed the drop, which is occurring nationwide, to tougher sentencing laws and growing activism by Neighborhood Watch groups. Some social scientists maintain that the decline is due instead to the aging of the post-World War II baby boom generation, leaving fewer people in the age groups that commit most crimes.

“We know that more suspects are going to prison and we can point to Neighborhood Watch, which makes more members of the general public aware of the crime problem and assists the Police Department,” said Officer Rod Bernsen, a department spokesman.

Robbery Down 6.5%

Robbery fell 6.5% in 1984 to 27,402 reported incidents, and aggravated assault rose 0.7% to 21,114. Burglaries dropped from 79,838 in 1983 to 68,898 last year. That decline follows a 4% drop reported in 1983 from 1982.

The sharpest drop last year occurred in the Devonshire Division in the San Fernando Valley, where reports of major crime fell 15%. The largest increase was in the Hollenbeck Division--which includes Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights and El Sereno--where reports of serious crime rose 9%.

The Northeast Division, which takes in Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, Mount Washington, Glassel Park and Highland Park, experienced an 8% increase in reports of crime over the year before. Crime in Hollywood fell 5%, and it was down 6% in the Rampart Division, which includes Silverlake, Westlake and Echo Park.

Officer Sergio Diaz, another department spokesman, said the 1984 shifts probably will not affect the ranking of neighborhoods according to crime rate. For example, he said, Hollenbeck continues to have one of the lowest crime rates in the city and Hollywood one of the highest.

The 77th Division in South-Central Los Angeles once again had the most homicides in the city--108--followed by Rampart and the Newton Division, southeast of downtown, with 85 each.