NEWS
Crime in L.A. dropped again in 2019. Police credit community outreach and gang intervention (December 2019)
Violent crime in Los Angeles declined for the second consecutive year in 2019, which was the 10th consecutive year the city saw fewer than 300 homicides. Gang-related homicides and crime related to homelessness remain persistent trouble spots, officials said. But the overall crime picture continued several positive trends from the previous year, and officials said Los Angeles may be experiencing one of the safest periods in modern history.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said the crime numbers show the department’s emphasis on community policing is working. Continuing to partner with organizations such as the Gang Reduction and Youth Development Foundation has given the department more opportunities to work at the “neighborhood level,” Moore said. “This happens when all parts of our community work together,” Moore said. “This is one of the safest times in our history.”
What Chicago can learn from Los Angeles about reducing gun violence (November 2019)
When it comes to issues like traffic management or housing affordability, Chicago may not have much to learn from the famously sprawling and expensive city of Los Angeles. When it comes to reducing gun violence, however, America’s second-largest city has much to teach us.
Like Chicago, L.A. had a high-profile videotaped incident that prompted the city to act. And like Chicago, L.A. eventually faced oversight of an outside monitor due to institutionalized racism in the ranks and illegal policing aimed at people of color.
Unlike Chicago, however, Los Angeles has turned it around and today the city’s rate of gun violence is about a third of Chicago’s, though L.A. has 1.3 million more residents and fewer sworn officers. Back in the early 1990s, the L.A. Police Department was on its heels with gang violence spiraling out of control. The videotaped beating of Rodney King in 1991 by Los Angeles police officers galvanized the community against the police. Along with other scandals, it led to a federally appointed monitor to oversee police reforms.