So far, LA crime in 2019 is dipping

Most (not all) neighborhoods show a decrease during first six months
Crime
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In absolute numbers, things look good for the City of Angels: There were 106,559 crimes reported during the first six months of 2019, a 5.7% drop from the same period in 2018.

 

On the whole, 86 neighborhoods saw a decrease in crime, while 22 neighborhoods recorded an increase compared with the same period in 2018. Two neighborhoods, Montecito Heights and Westchester, saw no change at all.

 

The decrease in crime appears to be accelerating slightly from last year. In 2018, overall crime fell by 1% compared with 2017. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in January that crimes in all major categories in 2018 were down, with homicides dropping 8% and violent crimes, such as rape and aggravated assault, down 4.5%. Property crimes fell 1.8% and gang-related homicides dropped by almost 20%.

 

But across Los Angeles, people’s experiences with safety vary dramatically. We’ve examined crimes reported to the Los Angeles Police Department for 110 neighborhoods in the city and ranked them by crime rate. (Crime rate is determined by dividing the number of crimes by the number of inhabitants and then multiplying by 100,000.) 

 

Downtown Los Angeles had the highest crime rate, and Bel-Air had the lowest.

 

But numbers don’t tell the whole story. Downtown has just over 50,000 inhabitants, and it recorded about one crime for every three residents. Yet it is a hub of commercial activity and tens of thousands commute to the area for work. It also has the city’s largest homeless population. Its crime rate rose by 5% during the first six months of the year.

 

Sharp increases in housing prices in neighborhoods like West Adams have led to changes in both demographics and public safety. The neighborhood saw a 13% increase in crime during the first half of 2019. However, it is unclear whether this increase was due to actual higher crime or more vigilant crime monitoring by residents. 

 

“Back when West Adams was experiencing a lot of gang violence, with the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips and the West Boulevard Crips, the policy was ‘See something, don’t say anything.’ Nobody wanted to become a target,” said Josef Siroky, a West Adams Neighborhood Council board member. “Now, with housing prices going up, the neighborhood is a lot more affluent. People are much more comfortable calling 911 and coming to Neighborhood Council meetings,” he said.

 

The most common crimes committed in the area from Jan.- June 2019 were battery, simple assault and vandalism on goods worth more than $400. 

 

“With crimes like those, they’re really hard to prevent. What we really need for neighborhood security is more surveillance so we can catch people who do commit crimes and punish them so that they’re deterred in the future,” Siroky said.

 

But, according to Siroky, a lack of financial resources and residents who are unaware of public safety protocol makes neighborhood safety measures difficult to implement.

 

The West Adams Neighborhood Council works with the LAPD to disseminate info on public safety and convey concerns, but residents are an important part of the process as well. 

 

West Adams saw the third highest increase in crime compared with Jan. – June 2018. Chinatown and Playa del Rey took the top two spots, with increases of 14% and 24% respectively. Bel Air and Lake View Terrace saw the sharpest drops, with reductions of 51% and 30% respectively.

 

Click on the arrows in the table to sort by category. Click once to see the category in ascending order, and again to see it in descending order. Use the search bar to see where your neighborhood stands. (The number column refers to alphabetical order.)

 

Number Neighborhood (Alphabetical) Crime Rate (Jan. 1 – June 30, 2019) Crime Rate (Jan. 1 – June 30, 2018) Crime Rate Change
1 Adams-Normandie 2550 2650 -4%
2 Arleta 1125 1282 -12%
3 Arlington Heights 2163 2360 -8%
4 Atwater Village 2320 2686 -14%
5 Baldwin Hills Crenshaw 4526 4988 -9%
6 Bel-Air 893 1812 -51%
7 Beverly Crest 1296 1456 -11%
8 Beverly Grove 4645 4418 5%
9 Beverlywood 1353 1311 3%
10 Boyle Heights 2850 2916 -2%
11 Brentwood 1670 1813 -8%
12 Broadway-Manchester 4901 4724 4%
13 Canoga Park 3083 3464 -11%
14 Carthay 2465 2689 -8%
15 Central Alameda 2087 2175 -4%
16 Century City 3854 3741 3%
17 Chatsworth 1777 2060 -14%
18 Chesterfield Square 4074 4353 -6%
19 Cheviot Hills 2024 1978 2%
20 Chinatown 2849 2499 14%
21 Cypress Park 2749 2647 4%
22 Del Rey 1829 1853 -1%
23 Downtown 14342 13697 5%
24 Eagle Rock 1554 1794 -13%
25 East Hollywood 2362 2469 -4%
26 Echo Park 2652 2441 9%
27 El Sereno 1428 1721 -17%
28 Elysian Park 4443 4610 -4%
29 Elysian Valley 1742 1810 -4%
30 Encino 1857 2393 -22%
31 Exposition Park 3624 3511 3%
32 Fairfax 5896 6667 -12%
33 Florence 3454 3912 -12%
34 Glassell Park 1773 2172 -18%
35 Gramercy Park 3450 3497 -1%
36 Granada Hills 1745 1951 -11%
37 Green Meadows 3576 3799 -6%
38 Hancock Park 2942 3295 -11%
39 Harbor City 1808 2129 -15%
40 Harbor Gateway 2375 2176 9%
41 Harvard Heights 2867 2980 -4%
42 Harvard Park 5242 5582 -6%
43 Highland Park 1615 1869 -14%
44 Historic South Central 3522 3353 5%
45 Hollywood 5335 5546 -4%
46 Hollywood Hills 3019 3066 -2%
47 Hollywood Hills West 2167 2437 -11%
48 Hyde Park 3533 3804 -7%
49 Jefferson Park 2510 2601 -3%
50 Koreatown 2562 2850 -10%
51 Lake Balboa 1604 2028 -21%
52 Lakeview Terrace 1259 1797 -30%
53 Larchmont 1990 2245 -11%
54 Leimert Park 4250 5117 -17%
55 Lincoln Heights 2709 2450 11%
56 Los Feliz 2221 2496 -11%
57 Manchester Square 4151 4081 2%
58 Mar Vista 1298 1430 -9%
59 Mid-City 2660 2727 -2%
60 Mid-Wilshire 2774 2737 1%
61 Mission Hills 2267 2875 -21%
62 Montecito Heights 1490 1490 0%
63 Mount Washington 1253 1162 8%
64 North Hills 1955 2269 -14%
65 North Hollywood 2769 3213 -14%
66 Northridge 2237 2371 -6%
67 Pacific Palisades 1168 1277 -8%
68 Pacoima 1851 2048 -10%
69 Palms 1759 1785 -1%
70 Panorama City 2126 2363 -10%
71 Pico-Robertson 2240 2365 -5%
72 Pico-Union 3063 3098 -1%
73 Playa Del Rey 1828 1469 24%
74 Playa-Vista 2256 2283 -1%
75 Porter Ranch 1171 1375 -15%
76 Rancho Park 1700 2206 -23%
77 Reseda 1754 2048 -14%
78 San Pedro 2167 2556 -15%
79 Sawtelle 2719 2735 -1%
80 Shadow Hills 1685 2154 -22%
81 Sherman Oaks 2146 2388 -10%
82 Silverlake 2565 2536 1%
83 South Park 3227 3248 -1%
84 Studio City 2685 3084 -13%
85 Sun Valley 1574 2019 -22%
86 Sunland 2385 2623 -9%
87 Sylmar 1486 1668 -11%
88 Tarzana 2308 2393 -4%
89 Toluca Lake 2056 2285 -10%
90 Tujunga 1295 1544 -16%
91 University Park* 3678 3786 -3%
92 Valley Glen 2392 2475 -3%
93 Valley Village 2268 2389 -5%
94 Van Nuys 2775 2961 -6%
95 Venice 4591 4406 4%
96 Vermont-Knolls 4752 5311 -11%
97 Venrmont Slauson 4490 4759 -6%
98 Vermont Square 3505 3331 5%
99 Vermont Vista 4095 4448 -8%
100 Watts 2962 3113 -5%
101 West Adams 3118 2757 13%
102 Westchester 4622 4610 0%
103 West Hills 1779 1921 -7%
104 Westlake 2836 2982 -5%
105 West Los Angeles 2235 2824 -21%
106 Westwood* 1255 1246 1%
107 Wilmington 2132 2500 -15%
108 Windsor Square 2151 2599 -17%
109 Winnetka 1703 2032 -16%
110 Woodland Hills 2373 2610 -9%

 

*indicates a neighborhood policed by more than one agency.

How we did it: We looked at LAPD publicly available data on reported crimes in 2018 and 2019. For neighborhood boundaries, we rely on the borders defined by the Los Angeles Times.  Learn more about our data here.

 

LAPD data only reflects crimes that are reported to the department, not how many crimes actually occurred. In making our calculations, we rely on the data that the LAPD makes publicly available. On occasion, LAPD may update past crime reports with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.

 

Want to know how your neighborhood fares? Or simply just interested in our data? Email us at askus@xtown.la.