Criminologists are puzzled by the downward trend that Los Angeles County has seen in the crime rate over the past few years. Historically, a weak economy portended a rise in criminal activity. However, even with the country still feeling the grip of its most recent recession, Southern California crime has seen a marked decrease.

This unexpected steady decline has given proof that there are many factors that play a role in the amount of criminal activity on the streets besides the ups and downs of America’s roller coaster economy.

One of these driving factors is how well police officers do their job. Another is the strength of local communities. Residents of Los Angeles County have taken more of a stand in their neighborhoods, letting it be known that they will not tolerate crime anymore.

In 2010, the county saw a decrease of some thousands in the number of serious crimes committed, according to Los Angeles Police Department preliminary statistics. For two consecutive years, Los Angeles had less than 300 homicides. This number is far short of the horrifying amount of homicides in the 1990s, which saw homicide rates in the thousands.

The rest of Los Angeles County saw a 12 percent drop in homicides with only 283, according to the coroner’s data.

Other violent crimes as well as property crime have also been on a downward trend over the last few years, decreasing between three and nine percent in comparison to last year.

At the onset of the recent recession, residents in the southern California region were warned to expect a sharp rise in criminal activity, but the surge never came. Instead, the decline, which started nearly a decade ago, has continued on regardless of the housing crisis, increased unemployment numbers and public service cuts.

Credit for this downturn in Los Angeles crime rates is due in part to the effective crime-fighting techniques of law enforcement, demographic shifts, stricter sentencing laws and sociological influences.

Even with such positive numbers, though, there are some areas in Los Angeles County that have seen an increase in crime rather than a decrease. The downtown area, for example, saw a jump in the number of homicides, burglaries and robberies.

There was also an increase of six percent in the number of gang-related homicides in Los Angeles.

The number of times that LAPD officers had to fire their weapons last year also increased 65 percent over the previous year. In 2011, 25 people were killed by LAPD officers and there were 61 shootings in which officers were involved as well.

Source: Despite Weak Economy… by Joel Rubin, LA Times

Published: 1/13/2012