EGN NEWS DESK
The preliminary statistics from the survey of 69 legislation enforcement businesses by the Major Cities Chiefs Association in contrast the variety of violent crimes in a number of classes from Jan. 1 by June 30 this 12 months to the identical time interval final 12 months.
It discovered experiences of violent crime decreased in most cities, together with homicides, with 3,124 within the first half of the 12 months, in contrast with 3,783 in 2023. Reports of rape, theft and aggravated assaults additionally declined in most cities, the survey reveals.
But some locations bucked that pattern. In Southern California, three legislation enforcement businesses have been surveyed – the Long Beach and Los Angeles police departments and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department – they usually every reported blended year-over-year outcomes.
In Long Beach, murder numbers rose, with town’s police division reporting 12 homicides within the first six months of 2023 and 19 to this point this 12 months.
The division additionally reported a pointy rise in robberies — a 35% enhance over 2023 knowledge — and a 7% enhance in rapes, in keeping with the survey. Aggravated assaults fell 7.4% in Long Beach this 12 months in comparison with the identical time in 2023, in keeping with the survey.
After seeing the rise in crime, Long Beach police stated they elevated their deal with recovering unlawful firearms and utilizing “proactive enforcement motion.”
The division created a High Crime Focus Team of 12 officers meant to assist patrol officers cut back crime across the metropolis. Police are additionally trying to modify their operations and reallocate assets to help proactive crime prevention efforts.
Looking again at mid-year experiences by 2020, crime knowledge for Long Beach fluctuated and didn’t usually present a transparent sample, however aggravated assaults rose or stayed about the identical from 2021 by 2023 earlier than falling in 2024.
Both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported will increase in robberies to this point this 12 months, in keeping with the survey, which depends on businesses to voluntarily report their crime stats.
Police reported an 8.8% enhance in robberies since final 12 months, and the sheriff’s division reported a ten.2% enhance.
In 2022, LAPD reported rises in violent crime throughout all 4 classes, and numbers fell by the 2023 mid-year report.
Commander Brandon Dean, a spokesman for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, stated they’ve seen extra folks getting into shops with the intent to steal. When these suspects are confronted by an worker, witness or another person, they’ve used drive earlier than fleeing, upgrading the cost from theft to a theft.
The division additionally works with the district lawyer’s workplace and federal businesses to prosecute gun-related instances. Dean stated that work helped cut back the variety of reported assaults, and the division additionally hopes it is going to reduce down on armed robberies.
The sheriff’s division additionally reported a drop in homicides, with 78 to this point this 12 months in comparison with 91 on the similar time final 12 months. Midyear murder numbers remained the identical in Los Angeles, with 155 killings recorded by June 30 of 2023 and 2024.
The sheriff’s division has seen a rise in robberies in every mid-year report because it started reporting knowledge to the survey in 2022. Homicides and rapes have decreased every year since 2022. And after rising in 2022, aggravated assaults dropped in 2023 and 2024 to this point.
Addressing the lowering experiences of crime nationwide, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland stated in a press release Monday that “the up to date knowledge comes within the wake of final 12 months’s historic drop in homicides nationwide and one of many lowest ranges of violent crime in 50 years.”
Garland credited the figures partly to the Justice Department’s technique to kind partnerships with varied federal businesses, and state and native legislation enforcement, in combatting crime.
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