Murders Are Down, Arrests Up

Arrests by Los Angeles Police Department gang and narcotics units shot up significantly in the first half of 2003, while violent crime and murder have continued to drop compared with last year, Chief William J. Bratton told the city’s police commissioners Tuesday.

Gang enforcement teams, an outgrowth of Bratton’s reorganization that specifically targeted gang activity, registered 3,225 arrests, an 83.6% jump over the same period last year.

Drug units, which have also been overhauled, logged 3,014 arrests through June 21, a 90.4% increase over the same span in 2002.

Bratton attributed the higher arrest figures to his command staff, which has focused police resources on problem gang areas. He said the improvements came with the same number of personnel in the field.

Total arrests citywide increased 9.7%, to 65,880, through June 21, compared with 60,045 by that date last year.

At the same time, so-called violent crime -- a category that includes such offenses as rape, robbery and aggravated assault -- fell 3.4% from the same period last year. Homicides dropped 21.9%, with 240 people killed through June 21, compared with 306 last year.

Rapes were down 5.4%; robberies fell almost 1%; aggravated assaults were down almost 5%. Burglaries rose less than 1% from the same period last year, and auto thefts increased 3%.

Shootings citywide fell 15.7%, and the number of gunshot victims declined more than 15%. One example of the trend was in the LAPD’s South Bureau, which traditionally leads the city in violent crime. There, calls reporting gunfire plummeted 23.1%, and the number of shooting victims fell 16.1%, from 653 to 548.