Once a week, the leadership within the Los Angeles Police Department gets together to review crime trends, analyize statistics and to discuss strategies to improve performance.

During a recent meeting,  they reported homicides were down, but the instances of shots being fired and the number of aggravated assaults had climbed month-on-month.

This trend, they said, was largely tied to some upheaval in the leadership of a local gang, and department members said they'd already started on outreach to community members and church leaders to help negotiate a truce.

Today, it's not just about patrolling the streets.  It's about taking a proactive approach when it comes to community-based policing models.

And that type of law enforcement requires the cooperation of both the LAPD, area residents, and business organizations.

The Metro division has recently seen an uptick in shoplifting incidents, they said, some of which have escalated to the extent that the people who have been caught stealing have started to attack store owners.

The bulk of petty theft activity is taking place at an area Walmart, and the LAPD is urging them to hire private security guards to help reduce the number of police calls.

Walmart said reportedly said they're all ears in terms of suggestions.

Ultimately, the department said it's all about taking the data that's available to them,  looking at it very closely, and formulating a plan.