Posted on 02/07/2012 8:14:44 PM PST by dragnet2
There were thousands fewer crimes reported in 2011 than 2010 in areas the LAPD and Sheriff's Department patrol. The trend puzzles some but reinforces a common police view that other factors are at play.
Even since the economy began stalling several years ago, there have been dire warnings that crime would rise.
But in Southern California, crime continues its long decline despite the weak economy.... yet streets in many parts of the region were the safest they've been in decades.
The trend continues to puzzle some criminologists
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said crime rates are determined largely by how well police do their job and the "informal social standards" set by communities — that is, what kind of behavior people are willing to tolerate from others.
"The driving forces on crime," Beck said, are " 'What is the likelihood the police will catch you?' and, 'What would your mother or neighbor think if they knew what you were doing?'"
A spokesman for Sheriff Lee Baca took a similar stand. "Communities seem to be banding together to fight crime," Steve Whitmore said. "We can't take the complete credit."
The city, along with much of the rest of L.A. County, finished the year with thousands fewer serious crimes than in 2010..
Homicides, finished the year nearly even with the historically low rate
Throughout the rest of L.A. County, — a 12% decline from the previous year
The Sheriff's Department, also posted declines in a preliminary count through November. Serious violent crimes were down 13.5%, and property-related offenses dropped about 2%.
To the contrary, the region has watched as a downward trend in crime that began nearly a decade ago has continued largely unabated..This will be the ninth consecutive year of falling crime in Los Angeles.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Without a doubt.
People are just pissed off in general and tolerance for crime, is at an all time low in Southern California.
The long term trend is simple demographics. The baby boomers are getting old, and most violent crimes are committed in youth. Crime trends have always followed the demographics of boomers.
Crime way down in most those areas too.
A more correct headline would be...”Fewer crimes were reported”. That’s different than fewer crimes were committed.
Maybe the thugs have killed themselves off?
You're one of the deniers that crime in S. CA has been dropping for the past 10 years?
Just a wild guess, but I'd bet it a bit hard cover up, or not report a murder, rape, stolen vehicle, bank robbery etc..
Police armed with paramilitary gear provided by DHS probably serve as a deterrent, as well.
It worked in Baltimore.
Naw...Most crime has little to do with that crap. In fact, most of that paramilitary stuff is used after a crime has allegedly been committed anyway.
That has little impact...Like the article suggests, people are just fed up, and have little tolerance for crime when they themselves are struggling just to do things like paying their bills.
Crime statistics attempt to provide statistical measures of the crime in societies. Given that crime is usually secretive by nature, measurements of it are likely to be inaccurate.
Several methods for measuring crime exist, including household surveys, hospital or insurance records, and compilations by police and similar law enforcement agencies. Typically official crime statistics are the latter, but some offences are likely to go unreported to the police. Public surveys are sometimes conducted to estimate the amount of crime not reported to police. Such surveys are usually more reliable for assessing trends. Public surveys rarely encompass all crime, rarely procure statistics useful for local crime prevention, often ignore offences against children, and do not count offenders brought before the criminal justice system.
But you're welcome to come here and try stealing a car, murder someone, or rob and bank etc, and see if it doesn't get reported.
Good luck with that!
This is definitely good. Nice to hear good news out of California for once.
Whenever I see a report like this I just think it must be an election year.
Sorry to be so cynical, but I have caught the media in so many lies that I can’t tell when they are telling the truth.
A more correct headline would be...”Fewer crimes were reported”. That’s different than fewer crimes were committed.
Actually, you’re partially correct. I think it is more accurate to say: “Fewer crimes were reported by the Police Department, Sheriff’s Department, DHS, FBI, CIA, NSA and the LA Times”.
Just like the recent jobs report, it doesn’t matter what the facts are. What matters is what is reported. Fudge the numbers, change the definition of what determines the numbers and it’s a whole new ballgame.
It’s just a big numbers game. Law enforcement, media, unions, the DNC and Mawgli’s administration are all working together to get him re-elected. The fix is in.
EK
“A more correct headline would be...”Fewer crimes were reported”. That’s different than fewer crimes were committed.
—
You’re one of the deniers that crime in S. CA has been dropping for the past 10 years?
Just a wild guess, but I’d bet it a bit hard cover up, or not report a murder, rape, stolen vehicle, bank robbery etc..”
—
Well, I understand that all those illegal immigrants have their non-citizen safety patrols but I didn’t appreciate how effective they are.
In fact, I’d surmise that the shrunken numbers of police are overwhelmed by the number of criminal activities to the extent that they just ignore a lot of citizen calls and never write up a lot of crimes. Additionally, with their budgets under constant assault, I bet the cops are focusing on stopping traffic violators in order to garner fines to provide operating capital.
Nothing left to steal.
Pay closer attention...
The crime reports for the past 10 years, clearly indicate crime in Southern California have been dropping for about decade now.
This is really nothing new.
....yes, demographics do play a role, but so has the internet and redevelopment.
Most of the young are too interested in playing games on their x-box, their computer and their i-phones to do the hard work of crime, even if their families were involved in it. The obesity epidemic has had its effect as well on the criminally inclined. It’s much easier to do business over the internet and by mail than it is to do turf wars and corner drug drops like they did in the 90s.
Redevelopment in downtown and the rest of the county has also had a really positive effect from what I can see. LA really has got the laid back image, even in the criminal class. Do your business over the ‘net and you are much less likely to get hassled by the cops, or get shot at by rival gang members.
Well, I understand that all those illegal immigrants have their non-citizen safety patrols but I didn’t appreciate how effective they are bla bla...
So illegals who commit murder, steal vehicles, rob liquor stores all get brushed under the rug and go unreported eh?
You live in Fantasy Land.
Wait a minuter... did I not hear that California had to start releasing prisoners because they are running out of money?
Furthermore, I’ve heard the state is in great financial trouble and may run out at the end of March?
CA’s three strikes law keeps a lot of career criminals in prison. One of the few good laws we have.
Yeah, most of which were non-violent, and probably shouldn’t have been in the joint at tax payer expense in the first place. Oh, and CA has had big financial issues for years now. Nothing new.
And causes many who with to continue those types or careers, to leave the state.
What most do not know, is CA has some of the hashes criminal penalties in the U.S.
ER...And causes many who WISH to continue those types or careers, to leave the state as they know the consequences of having two strikes.
The worst of the prisoners who might have been released from prisons are being moved to available county jails. Unfortunately some of the supposed nonviolent prisoners will be paroled.
The Democratic Controller stated CA will run out money by March. At least he’s honest.
Anybody who still has anything worth stealing has fled the state.
Right Lancey...Brilliant!
Yep...But if ya read some of the comments, it seems some just can't stand it....lol
It’s not that some can’t stand it.
Some just find it hard to believe when the numbers come from liberals.
It’s not like the Left doesn’t lie about things if they think it is to their advantage.
With crime down, why not cut the budget for LEO?
I’m sure the fact that the OC sheriff is one of the most accomodating to citizens who apply for CCW permits has nothing to do with it...
City/state budgets are being cut. The tax payers are broke. They have no choice.
I call b.s., as well.
Nobody even reports “everyday” crime like having your catalytic converter stolen off your SUV. Because the LAPD won’t come out and take a report. You have to go to the station.
Our car was stolen in front of our house, and we had to go to the station to report it.
Anecdotal evidence — just what’s going on around my neighborhood — burglaries and such — says crime is way, way up.
Heh...
You know after all these years I just like pulling your chain.
When I was in the Marines I toured the Mojave twice for several weeks, and also spent a couple weeks high in the Sierra Nevadas (Mountain Warfare Training Center) up north. I said then that California was the most beautiful place I ever saw. Still is.
That won’t stop me from pulling your chain, though.
FRegards,
LH
Sure they do. You insurance demands it, or you get no claim.
Our car was stolen in front of our house, and we had to go to the station to report it.
You want to collect an insurance claim? Most people do, and they report it weather they go to the station or have someone respond. It's not complex.
Yeah, and with crime dropping for the past 10 years, it makes it even better.
And what if you don’t have insurance?
Dragnet2, I’m assuming you are a cop in Los Angeles
From March 8, 2006 in the Los Angeles Daily News
8,325 hit-and-runs in the San Fernando Valley
We don’t get statistics like that every year, so I keep this one.
Today, Tampa was closed off with police tape. This is an everyday occurrence and we will never know why because it is so common. This is a major street.
I had a friend, Holly, may she rest in peace. Another car in the left turn lane going the same way as Holly, decided to turn right instead.
Not a violent crime.
If you live in the Los Angeles area, keep your camera ready because license plates don’t mean a thing. We had a televised car pursuit tonight because the license plate didn’t match the car.
I live in the middle of the block, yet my tree still shows the scars of an illegal driver.
My wife and I have found it amusing to point out how many block walls and fences of corner homes have been blown out by drunk drivers. We notice that they put up retaining walls and concrete filled 6 inch pipe.
My neighbor knocked on my door and told me my truck was hit. It was pushed up into the next door neighbors yard. But nobody saw a thing.
Some guy was lying in a pool of blood across the street. He was hit by a car and all my Mexican neighbors saw it but nobody reported it until I walked out and called 911.
I’m yelling at some ahole parked in the middle of the street to move his damn truck. Honking my horn, yelling at his girlfriend still in his truck and shouting at the guy, he gets in his truck and leaves.
He was talking to some girl in a car parked at the curb. As I drive by I notice she is distressed. I ask her if she is ok, she says that some guy in a road rage chased her through the entire valley and had his knife out and was ready to stab her.
A drunk knocks over my canvas sun screen. Turns out he was having some kind of shock due to low blood sugar. I call 911 and they come over. They can’t do a thing and tell my wife to give him a sugary drink.
A friend of mine has a scar at the base of his neck. It is from a bullet hole fired in retaliation to his being too forceful in a soccer game. It is also a symbol of honor.
My neighbor, an American, was testifying as a witness to a commercial theft. Every time there was a recess and he went into the hallway, the thief’s gangbanger friends would sit next to him trying to intimidate him.
I took photographs of kids spraying graffiti, about 13 years old. They told me I didn’t know who I was dealing with. So, I take the photographs to the police and that night my truck window is broken out and a Gotti DVD is lying next to it.
I’ve got to admit, there are some very good cops out there. The first cop that came to my house had read the report, contacted me and said he would take care of it. It has probably been 3 years now and those punks have never shown up again.
This is why nobody in my neighborhood ever reports anything, they are living in fear, not of the police but of the gang bangers.
How much harder is it going to be for us to deal with the cartels than we deal with gangbangers?
The only purpose of Special Order 40 was to get the illegal aliens to report crimes.
It hasn’t worked.
I’m a simple guy, I don’t work anymore, there are no jobs. I just sit at my bar in the front yard and watch the word go by. And this is what I see.
There is low income housing going up just 1 block away. More Mexicans, my house goes up for sale in March.
Poor economy means not enough money to buy bullets, hence crime is down. Who would have thunk?
I always though murder rates were the most reliable indicators of crime rate because they are difficult to manipulate. I lived in New York in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. The major police technique for crime control was to stop filing citizens’ reports. Reported crime rates plummetted while criminals thrived.
Perhaps the government has already taken everything there was to steal in Los Angeles.
Could it be that the illegal’s in California discovered the earned income credit scam is more profitable then crime? When crime “unexpectedly “went down in Tampa the police found all the criminals found a new line of work. (http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/49-accused-of-tax-fraud-and-identity-theft/1189406 ) So if the illegal’s already have multiple fake IDs what’s to stop them?
Could it be that some illegals are returning to Mexico?
One interesting theory for the reduction of crime pretty much nation wide is due to gasoline becoming lead-free.
Less lead in the environment, fewer people affected by lead poisoning and manifesting this through crime.
Other theories involve abortion being legalized (pretty much disproven), smaller crime-aged population, changes in the way kids are raised (everyone gets a trophy), more kids playing video games than hanging out on the street, and that crime rates haven’t really fallen - crime has just shifted online.
Basically, no one really knows why this is happening. And its most likely not due to any one cause.
Your assumption is incorrect.
Not too many illegals left...We tell them to move to Texas, where there are plenty of greedy employers and low wage, low skill jobs. Here in CA, I encourage the illegal landscapers to sue their employers upon injury...They deserve it.
Yeah a few did, others headed to other states for stoop labor jobs, free health care, governments coupons, etc.
It seems a bad economy does have some positive results!
In fact, Fresno might as well be on the planet Mars, as it has absolutely no relationship to this article regarding plummeting crime rates in the LA/OC area.
Nice try though!
Fresno being like Mars is not entirely inaccurate. You should see some of the neighborhoods. I have told visitors that there are some really nice areas of Fresno, but that there is no safe place in Fresno.
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