LA has fewer break-ins so far this year

Most neighborhoods see a drop in the numbers of burglaries
Crime
By

 

There were 6,869 burglaries in the City of Los Angeles between January and June 2019, a drop of 13% compared to the same period last year. 

 

During the first six months of 2019, 30 neighborhoods saw an increase in burglaries, 3 saw no change and 77 saw a reduction across the city. Sun Valley had the highest burglary rate, and Sunland had the lowest.

 

Burglaries have been holding steady since the Los Angeles Police Department began making its crime data publicly available in 2010, with a high of 17,465 incidents that year and a low of 15,125 incidents in 2014. 

 

 

This year, however, might be the one to buck that trend. The 6,869 six-month total is the lowest in half-year data since 2014. 

 

 

But numbers aren’t all there is to it. Burglaries in particular play out differently across neighborhoods based on how wealthy they are and how comfortable residents are with reporting crimes to the police.

 

Woodland Hills, for example, had the highest absolute number of burglaries of any neighborhood in Los Angeles between January and June 2019, with 247 incidents reported. Yet the neighborhood’s overall crime rate ranks right in the midrange compared with other areas in the city. 

 

Sheppard Kaufman, the chair of the public safety committee of the Woodland Hills-Warner Center Neighborhood Council, said that during the spring residents had heightened concerns about break ins. The LAPD, he said, explained the spike was due to the Chilean burglary crews that were working the area.”

 

While the Chilean burglary crew was later arrested by the LAPD, burglary prevention remains an issue that is as much about police enforcement as it is in the hands of residents and neighborhood councils.

 

“What we have done over the past couple of years is to ask the City and LAPD for additional patrol resources to support the population increases in Woodland Hills,” said Kaufman.

 

Hotspots for burglaries frequently shift across the city. During 2018, the wealthy enclave of Hancock Park had the highest burglary rate. But in the second half of the year, Cheviot Hills had the sharpest increase, with 32%. Then, in the first quarter of 2019, Tarzana had the highest burglary rate. 

 

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 rank column refers to change in burglary rate.)

Rank Neighborhood Burglary Rate (2019) Burglary Rate (2018) Change (2019-18)
1 Mount Washington 246 106 133%
2 Elysian Valley 338 149 127%
3 Sawtelle 362 216 68%
4 University Park* 182 116 57%
5 Echo Park 203 132 54%
6 Arleta 86 56 53%
7 Valley Village 225 167 35%
8 Woodland Hills 368 286 29%
9 Toluca Lake 370 294 26%
10 North Hollywood 191 151 26%
11 Montecito Heights 96 79 21%
12 Watts 120 100 20%
13 Tarzana 405 339 20%
14 Pico-Union 123 107 16%
15 Shadow Hills 246 215 14%
16 Valley Glen 183 161 14%
17 Atwater Village 161 143 13%
18 Harbor City 182 163 12%
19 Playa-Vista 279 252 11%
20 Sun Valley 937 849 10%
21 Studio City 349 319 9%
22 Silverlake 253 234 8%
23 Carthay 261 243 8%
24 Historic South Central 115 107 8%
25 Beverly Grove 459 431 6%
26 Lincoln Heights 126 119 6%
27 South Park 120 114 5%
28 Green Meadows 158 152 4%
29 Brentwood 262 253 4%
30 Cypress Park 102 102 0%
31 Elysian Park 126 126 0%
32 Playa Del Rey 184 184 0%
33 Eagle Rock 178 181 -2%
34 Downtown 413 425 -3%
35 Venrmont Slauson 212 220 -3%
36 Hollywood 176 185 -4%
37 Beverly Crest 178 186 -5%
38 Exposition Park 111 116 -5%
39 Broadway-Manchester 205 216 -5%
40 Venice 414 438 -5%
41 Century City 275 291 -6%
42 Palms 131 140 -7%
43 Northridge 161 175 -8%
44 Van Nuys 130 141 -8%
45 Harbor Gateway 182 199 -9%
46 Mid-City 279 308 -9%
47 West Hills 170 188 -9%
48 West Los Angeles 365 403 -10%
49 Winnetka 156 173 -10%
50 Fairfax 393 438 -10%
51 Sherman Oaks 228 254 -10%
52 Westwood* 128 143 -11%
53 Vermont Vista 237 266 -11%
54 Rancho Park 362 416 -13%
55 Central Alameda 58 67 -14%
56 Encino 341 396 -14%
57 Panorama City 104 121 -14%
58 Manchester Square 261 304 -14%
59 Vermont-Knolls 217 254 -15%
60 Beverlywood 318 373 -15%
61 El Sereno 95 112 -15%
62 East Hollywood 114 134 -15%
63 Highland Park 83 98 -15%
64 Canoga Park 153 181 -16%
65 Reseda 106 127 -16%
66 Lake Balboa 18 22 -17%
67 Hollywood Hills 254 305 -17%
68 North Hills 90 109 -18%
69 Westlake 125 152 -18%
70 Los Feliz 233 284 -18%
71 West Adams 206 253 -19%
72 Glassell Park 158 195 -19%
73 Boyle Heights 111 139 -20%
74 San Pedro 135 171 -21%
75 Granada Hills 159 203 -21%
76 Westchester 255 328 -22%
77 Chatsworth 172 224 -23%
78 Jefferson Park 130 174 -25%
79 Mar Vista 153 206 -26%
80 Del Rey 160 217 -26%
81 Baldwin Hills Crenshaw 192 263 -27%
82 Pico-Robertson 262 371 -29%
83 Pacoima 63 89 -29%
84 Sylmar 76 108 -30%
85 Chinatown 51 73 -30%
86 Hollywood Hills West 200 288 -30%
87 Adams-Normandie 100 145 -31%
88 Mission Hills 139 203 -32%
89 Gramercy Park 234 347 -32%
90 Mid-Wilshire 185 283 -35%
91 Harvard Park 244 382 -36%
92 Florence 114 182 -38%
93 Vermont Square 128 205 -38%
94 Wilmington 122 198 -38%
95 Porter Ranch 165 273 -39%
96 Larchmont 221 372 -41%
97 Harvard Heights 82 138 -41%
98 Koreatown 101 172 -42%
99 Pacific Palisades 96 168 -43%
100 Lakeview Terrace 228 412 -45%
101 Windsor Square 284 523 -46%
102 Cheviot Hills 297 549 -46%
103 Hyde Park 217 403 -46%
104 Tujunga 106 201 -47%
105 Bel-Air 131 250 -47%
106 Hancock Park 297 575 -48%
107 Chesterfield Square 279 546 -49%
108 Arlington Heights 67 177 -62%
109 Leimert Park 159 493 -68%
110 Sunland 11 38 -70%

* indicates a neighborhood policed by more than one agency.

 

How we did it: We looked at LAPD publicly available data on reported burglaries and attempted burglaries 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.