Crime in Los Angeles
| Los Angeles | |
|---|---|
| Crime rates* (2007) | |
| Violent crimes | |
| Homicide | 12.6 |
| Rape | 19.4 |
| Robbery | 404.6 |
| Aggravated assault | 374.4 |
| Total violent crime | 702.1 |
| Property crimes | |
| Burglary | 386.0 |
| Larceny-theft | 2,489.9 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 326.5 |
| Arson | N/A |
| Total property crime | 102,297 |
Notes *Number of reported crimes per 100,000 population. Source: [ FBI 2005 UCR data] | |
Crime in Los Angeles has been a major problem in Southern California and concern for Angelenos since the early 20th century. Crime has steadily decreased since the 1990s but since 2006, crime has increased.
In 2005, Los Angeles reported 489 murders, a major decrease from the 90s which 1,096 murders were reported. But in 2007 there has been 678 murders in Los Angeles County with 2 months left, an increase of about 200 murders compared to 2005.
There are more shootings on LAPD officers in 2007 than 2005 and 2006 combined with 28 with a 40% increase on police officers for which the causes of attacks are unknown.
There are also more police car chases in Los Angeles than any other U.S city, due to the large freeway complex, which enables criminals to drive around the city at high speeds for hours.
Los Angeles is also known as the "Gang Capital of the Nation"
Watts Riots
See also: Watts Riots
The riot began on August 11, 1965, in Watts, when Lee Minikus, a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer, pulled over Marquette Frye, who Minikus believed was intoxicated because of his observed erratic driving. However, in this part of town especially, traffic stops were not so routine. While police questioned Frye and his brother Ronald Frye, a group of people began to gather. The mob began to throw rocks and other objects and shout at the police officers. A struggle ensued shortly after Frye's mother, Rena, arrived on the scene, resulting in the arrest of all three family members.
As a result of the riots, 34 people were officially reported killed (28 of those were African American), 1,032 people were injured, and 4,000 people were arrested. Among the dead were a fireman, an LA County deputy sheriff and a Long Beach police officer. The injured included 773 civilians, 90 Los Angeles police officers, 136 firefighters, 10 national guardsmen, and 23 persons from other governmental agencies. 118 of those injured were injured by firearms.
Six-hundred buildings were damaged or destroyed, and an estimated $35 million in damage was caused. Most of the physical damage was confined to businesses that were said to have caused resentment in the neighborhood due to perceived unfairness. Homes were not attacked, although some caught fire due to proximity to other fires.
The crack epidemic
Starting in 1984 and continuing until the beginning of the 90s, crack cocaine was widely available on the streets of many big cities in U.S. including Los Angeles and weak gun laws made criminals armed and dangerous. South Central became the site of many police raids. Previously unknown gangs were growing and new were emerging. The rap music genre, TV shows and movies portrayed Los Angeles as a no-go zone and a highly violent city. In fact, neighborhoods outside notorious city parts such as South Central haven't experienced a big rise in crime and remained relatively safe.
1992 LA riots
for more info see: Los Angeles riots of 1992
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the Rodney King uprising or the Rodney King riots, were sparked on April 29, 1992 when a predominately white jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King when he resisted arrest following a high-speed car chase. King had a past and violent history of criminal convictions and drug use, and thousands of blacks in the Los Angeles area joined in a race riot involving acts of law-breaking, including looting, assault, arson and murder, seeing in King an example of injustice against Blacks in the United States. In all, 53 people died during the riots
The situation was so grim that the California National Guard were called in. About 5 National Guardsmen were injured during the riots.
North Hollywood shootout
See also: North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily-armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr. and Emil Matasareanu, and patrol and SWAT officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in North Hollywood, California on February 28, 1997. It happened when responding patrol officers engaged Phillips and Matasareanu leaving the robbed bank. Seventeen officers and civilians were wounded before both robbers were killed. Phillips and Matasareanu had previously robbed several banks prior to their attempt in North Hollywood and were notorious for their heavy armament, which included automatic assault rifles.
C.R.A.S.H
Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, usually known as CRASH, was a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department established in the early 1970s to combat the rising problem of gangs in Los Angeles, California. Each of the 18 divisions had a CRASH unit whose primary goal was to suppress the influx of gang-related crimes in Los Angeles that came about primarily due to the increase in narcotics trade.
Rampart Scandal
See also: Rampart Scandal
The Rampart Scandal refers to widespread corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (C.R.A.S.H.) anti-gang unit of the LAPD Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers in the CRASH unit were implicated in misconduct, making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police misconduct in United States history. The convicted offenses include unprovoked shootings, unprovoked beatings, planting of evidence, framing of suspects, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and covering up evidence of these activities.
South Central LA
See also: South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles is a notoriously dangerous region of the City of Los Angeles, as it gave birth to the Bloods, Crips, 38th Street gang, 18th Street gang, MS-13, Florencia 13 and other dangerous gangs. Also, a majority of gang wars in Los Angeles take place there, as well as racial violence between African-Americans and Latinos. South Los Angeles has steadily declined in crime as crime has spread more throughout the Los Angeles County in the early 1990s.
South Central had become a byword for urban decay, its bad reputation spread by movies such as South Central, Menace II Society, Friday, and in particular, South Central native John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood. The rap group N.W.A.'s album Straight Outta Compton and the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also popularized South Central's bad image.
Compton
See also: Compton, California
In 2006, the Morgan Quitno Corporation rated Compton as the most dangerous city in the United States with a population of 75,000 to 99,999, and fourth most dangerous overall. The city is notorious for gang violence, primarily caused by the Bloods, the Crips, and Hispanic gangs. Compton's violent reputation was popularized in the late 1980s by the rise to prominence of local gangsta rap groups Compton's Most Wanted and N.W.A., who released the famous album Straight Outta Compton in 1988. Since then, "Compton" has become a euphemism for anything ghetto-related or gang-related. The most recent rapper from Compton to popularize the city's gang culture is The Game, with his albums The Documentary (2005) and Doctor's Advocate (2006).
Compton has a homicide rate about eight times higher than the national average, most of which are gang killings. Economic conditions and Compton's location as the center of the South Los Angeles "ghettos" make crime prevention more difficult. Although crime rates had been falling for years after the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s, Compton has in recent years witnessed spikes in the rate of violent crime.
Compton had 72 murders in 2005, which is a per capita rate significantly higher than the national average for small cities. Recently in an effort to combat this gun violence the Compton citizens were given the option to hand over their guns to the police, and receive a $100 check for various goods. During 2006, Compton has deployed twice as many sheriff deputies and the murder rate has decreased from 22 in four months, to just five. Like parts of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Compton is also a hot bed for racial violence between Blacks and Latinos
Skid Row
See also: Skid Row, Los Angeles, California
Skid Row is an area of Downtown Los Angeles. The area, officially known as Central City East, is home to one of the largest stable populations of homeless persons in the United States. Informal population estimates range from 7,000 to 8,000. First-time visitors to this area used to immediately see cardboard box and camping tents lining the sidewalks. According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the official boundaries of skid row are Third and Seventh Streets to the north and south and Alameda and Main Streets to the east and west, respectively.
Crime Spreading
In Greater Los Angeles, the crime is decreasing but in other Los Angeles County cities crime has increased including Pacoima, Van Nuys, Lancaster, Palmdale and other cities as well.