FBI Reports Decrease in L.A. Crime

Violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault fell by 10% in Los Angeles last year, reflecting a nationwide downward turn within cities of at least 100,000, according to preliminary FBI statistics released Sunday.

Overall, violent crime fell by 5% nationwide, and property crime including arson, car theft and burglary fell by 4%, the federal statistics show.

In raw numbers, Los Angeles police reported 135 fewer murders last year than the 709 in 1996. There were 5,000 fewer robberies and nearly 6,000 fewer auto thefts.

The number of rapes continued to be high. There were only 50 fewer rapes reported than the 1,413 recorded in 1996, the FBI reported.

Los Angeles wasn’t the only Southland city showing a modest decrease in crime. Glendale, Inglewood, Long Beach, Burbank, Thousand Oaks, Huntington Beach and Norwalk were among the Southland cities that reported fewer crimes.

Glendale and Long Beach each reported overall crime decreases of 17%. Huntington Beach showed a 12% decrease, Inglewood recorded a 10% decline in crime, and Burbank reported a 9% drop.

Some cities, however, including Lancaster and Palmdale, reported increases. Lancaster reported 5,947 violent crimes in 1996, and 6,507 in 1997. Palmdale went from 5,311 to 5,623 during the same period.

Although FBI officials, as is customary, did not attempt to assess the reasons that crime rates keep dropping, other analysts attributed the trend to more emphasis on community policing, tougher sentencing laws and improving economic conditions.

“We’ve fine-tuned our ability to work with community,” said Sgt. Brett Papworth of the LAPD’s Van Nuys Division. “Without community involvement, we have to look for a crime or happen to drive upon it.”

Law enforcement officials in the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere also cited the increasing popularity of anti-theft devices on automobiles and more home security systems as well as increased access to computerized crime information as reasons for the downturn.

“We get up-to-the-minute news on where crimes are committed, and can deploy officers there,” said Lt. Steve Keyser of the Foothill Division.

But even as analysts lauded the continued reversal of the upswing in crime that occurred in the mid-1980s with the emergence of crack cocaine, they cautioned against too much optimism.

“There are too many variables that go into the crime rate that we still don’t fully understand,” one federal official warned.

In the violent-crime category, murder and robbery showed the greatest decline in 1997--each down 9% from the year before. Aggravated assault figures decreased 2% and forcible rape dropped 1%.

Among property crimes, arson decreased 8%, motor vehicle theft 5%, larceny 4% and burglaries 3%.

The FBI report said final crime figures, based on statistics supplied by 16,000 local, county and state police forces, will be available in the fall. The preliminary figures, sufficient to establish a national trend, were supplied by only about 9,600 agencies, officials said.

A breakdown by regions showed that violent crimes fell 5% in the Northeast and West, and 4% in the Midwest and South. All regions recorded declines in the number of murders reported: 13% in the Northeast, 11% in the West, 9% in the South and 6% in the Midwest.

Property crime totals fell by 6% in the Northeast, 4% in the South and 3% in the Midwest and West.

In the nation’s largest cities, those with populations of 1 million or more, violent crime dropped 6%, slightly better than the national average.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno attributed the lower crime trend in part to “the support this administration has given to local police.”

“Everyone working together has made a difference,” she told reporters. “Police have done such an incredible job. I think everybody deserves some of the credit.”

Times staff writer Vanessa Hua contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Crime Statistics for Valley-Area Cities

*--*

CRIME LARCENY CITY TOTAL MURDER RAPE ROBBERY ASSAULT BURGLARY THEFT BURBANK 1996 4,161 4 19 169 264 611 2,219 1997 3,794 0 14 130 207 557 2,105 GLENDALE 1996 6,966 14 16 344 347 1,135 4,044 1997 5,815 6 21 256 411 987 3,099 LANCASTER 1996 5,947 12 58 308 1,005 1,455 2,338 1997 6,507 7 52 341 1,129 1,623 2,498 PALMDALE 1996 5,311 6 38 260 837 1,231 2,246 1997 5,623 6 46 275 919 1,146 2,431 SANTA CLARITA 1996 3,255 2 19 83 492 716 1,550 1997 2,914 2 24 68 511 608 1,372

CAR CITY THEFT BURBANK 1996 875 1997 781 GLENDALE 1996 1,066 1997 1,035 LANCASTER 1996 771 1997 857 PALMDALE 1996 693 1997 800 SANTA CLARITA 1996 393 1997 329

*--*

Source: FBI