On Tuesday, the LAPD acknowledged that murders in the city have soared 27.5 percent compared to the same period in 2015.
According to the Los Angeles Times, LAPD Asst. Chief Earl Paysinger told police commissioners that the city has suffered from a 12.7% increase in violent crime, with double-digit increases in aggravated assaults and robberies added to the skyrocketing murder rate.
Paysinger tried to mitigate the effect of the bad news by pointing out that property crime has fallen 2%, with a “remarkable” 16.2% plunge in burglaries. Combined with the soaring violent crime rate, overall crime rose less than one percentage point from 2015.
The largest increase in crime occurred in the LAPD’s Central Bureau, 4.5%. The South Bureau rose 3%, while the West L.A. and San Fernando Valley bureaus saw crime decrease.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has pointed out that out of one dozen shootings reported a recent weekend, ten were gang-related, and over half of the 48 homicides in the city were also gang-related. Deputy Chief Bill Scott, who supervises the LAPD’s South Bureau, said that Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park and Exposition Park have seen the greatest increase in homicides, with seven people killed, four in gang-related incidents.
Between July 27, 2015 to Jan. 24, 2016, the six most violent areas in the city, from first through sixth, were Chesterfield Square, Vermont Vista, Harvard Park, Vermont Knolls, Leimert Park, Manchester Square, and Gramercy Park.
As CBS Los Angeles reported in January, Beck said, “Gang crime for the first time in a number of years, in eight years, has increased and increased by 14.6 percent and the solution is communities that work to save their children.”