LOS ANGELES — For years, Los Angeles residents, like many in communities across the country,have complained about growing crime – from catalytic converter theft tostolen packages, or far worse –and the impact on their quality of life.
More than three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, USA TODAY took a look at the datato assess how much crime really has gone up and whether people are more, or less, safe than they were back in 2019.
Los Angelessawan11% increasein its overallcrime rate in 2022, with 60 reported crimes per 1,000 residentslast yearcompared with 54 per 1,000 residents in 2019. The dataincludes both violent crimes, defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to include rape, robberies, armed assaultand homicide, as well asproperty crimes, such asburglary, arson and vehicle theft.
It's impossible to discuss crime in Los Angeles without considering the city's massive unhoused population, which by some measurements is the largest in the nation. Blocks of tentsparked in green spaces and along sidewalks downtown and in more affluent Westside neighborhoodswereallowed to remain in place during the height of the pandemic and ultimately helped fuel rising crime rates.
Newly elected MayorKaren Bass, who has vowed to make solving L.A.'s homelessness crisis her top priority in her first year in office, plans to movepeople from street encampments into hotel rooms and permanent housing.
Mental illness, an increase in the use of narcotics such as fentanyl, plus an increase in homeless people carrying weapons, are among the factors contributing to an increase in crime numbers, said Los Angeles police Capt. Elaine Morales, the commanding officer of Central Division.The area includes downtown's infamous "Skid Row," a54-block area where many of L.A.'s unhoused population lives in tents near community resources geared toward them.
Thefindings about Los Angeles crime trends comefrom a USA TODAYanalysis of data gathered by Crosstown, anonprofit based at theUSCAnnenberg School of Communication and Journalism, which providescommunity-level crime statistics from the reports made to the Los Angeles Police Department.
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Some caveats:The data does not account for the roughly 500,000 Californians who left the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which could translate into anincrease in the reported crime rate in many neighborhoods. It includes only crimes reported to the police, which meanscrimes victims may be reluctant to report aren't counted. Lastly, conclusions about crime rates involving smaller neighborhoods can be skewedbecause the data pool is so small.
Los Angeles crime map by neighborhood
One of the neighborhoods that experienced a majorsurge in crime was downtown Los Angeles, which in the years preceding the pandemic had increasingly become aregional hub for entertainment, dining and business.
Downtown L.A.'s crimerate was more than six times the citywide rate and triple otherL.A. neighborhoodsin 2022.There were morethan 370 reported crimes per 1,000 people recorded downtownlast year.
In comparison,neighborhoods with the lowest crime rates last year were three residential areas: thehilly northeast hipster community ofMount Washington, the affluent Westside neighborhood ofBeverlywoodand the quiet suburban San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Porter Ranch.All three neighborhoods had fewer than 24 reported crimes per its 1,000 residents but are alsocollectively less populous than all of downtown Los Angeles.
How violent crime compares withproperty crime
Some neighborhoods experienced what at first appears to be a steep rise in violent crime, but a closer look tells a different story. For instance, the data shows violent crime soared 114% from 2019 to 2022 in the 5,500-residentWestside neighborhood of Rancho Park, but that was the result of the number of these episodes rising from seven to 15. That's still less than three reported violent crimes per 1,000 residents.
By comparison, downtown,with more than 50,000 residents, experienceda 25% increase in violent crime – from more than 1,800incidents in 2019 to more than 2,200 in 2022 – and a rate of 45 reported violent crimes per 1,000 residents. In property crime, downtown saw the highest percentage increase as well as crime rate, with a nearly 57% increase in property crime between 2019 and 2022 and roughly 167 property crimes reported per 1,000 residents.
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Morales, the commanding officer of Central Division, which includes much of downtown, saidthe area is very diverse and a "target rich" environment for criminals. That's becauseit contains major business and entertainment areas and, as a result, more foot traffic from local visitors, tourists and professionals, Morales said.She added that the criminals often are visitors to the area.
"Property crime is what drives most of my crime numbers," Morales noted, "specifically as refers to burglary from motor vehicles."
Morales said the division has been able to work specifically to addressproperty crimes in 2023, with overtime details and special taskforces that she said enabled her to drop the rate of motor vehicle burglaries fromnear45% to 28% in the first twomonths of the year.
The crime rate in your LA neighborhood
Change in crime rate by Los Angeles neighborhood
Outside of downtown, some of the largest increases in crime rateswere on L.A.'s Westside, with greater wealth and home to many national chain and high-end retailers. Neighborhoods includingCentury City, Palms, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista andSawtelleall sawoverall crime rates increase dramatically between2018 and 2022.
Century City, home to a major shopping mallthat's been the target ofhigh-end "smash and grab" thefts,saw its propertycrime rate increaseby 35% from 80 reported crimes per 1,000 residentsto 108 in four years. Such increases across manyWestside neighborhoods – which trend whiter and richer on average than most L.A. neighborhoods –looked the same when analyzed from 2019 to 2022:
- Palms sawa 35% in reported property crimes and a 7% increase in violent crimes;
- Playa Vista saw a 28% increase in property and 50% increase in violent crimes;
- Mar Vista saw an 8% increase in property and 33% increase in violent crimes;
- Del Rey experienced a 14% increase in property and 25% increase in violent crime; and
- Brentwood had a 20% increase in property and 15% increase in violent crimes.
How homelessness affects crime rates
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes many of theseWestside neighborhoods, saida lot of violent crime involves homeless-on-homeless crimes around and within encampments that sprang up and were allowed by city officials to remain in place during the pandemic.
"That is something that is highly, highly concerning to me," said Park, who was elected in2022 ona strong public safety platform."But it’s not only the unhoused population who is the victim of crime. Every day, people out in the neighborhoods or community, people working in local businesses, have been victimized, whether by assaults or armed robberies. It's pretty commonplace."
Park, whosaid she experienced an attempted carjackingin front of her home a year and a half ago,said someof the biggest frustrations residents raised during her campaign involved smallcrimes that impactedtheirquality of life: stolen bicycles, stolenpackagesor items stolen from cars.
In areas with higher-end retail, there are crimes of opportunity where people are engaging in smash and grabs or are "porch pirates" stealing packages, saidVicki Halliday, who lives in the Westside neighborhood of Venice and serves on the Venice Neighborhood Council, an advisory body that's part of the L.A. city government and is funded by taxpayers.
Halliday attributed the drop in property crime in the area to the clearing of some homeless encampments in the area during 2021.
Another large encampment near Halliday's home was cleared in early January after Park and the mayor teamed up to get people into interim housing.Park, who also lives in Venice,said the neighborhood has since seen a 63% drop in violent crime since that roughly 80-person encampment was dismantled.
Will this plan work?LA has an ambitious plan to end homelessness and clear tent cities.
"We had the biggest encampments outside of Skid Row," Halliday said.
Now, she added: "They're all gone."
Auto-part thefts shatter records
Across Los Angeles, auto parts are being snatched and sold at an unprecedented pace. Last year hit a record whenmore than 6,970auto parts were reported stolen,219% more than the number reported stolen in 2018.
The rise in auto-part thefts began during the pandemic, when manyLos Angeles residents were stuck at home andthe city suspended many parking regulations.In July 2019, there were 147 theft reports. Roughly six months later, the number had doubled.
Catalytic converters, the part of a vehicle's emissions system that converts harmful pollutants in engine exhaust into less environmentally toxic pollutants,account for the vast majority of recent thefts, and part of what is driving the increase is the risein prices for palladium, rhodium and platinum, according to Crosstown.
In November2022, there were 913 reports of stolen auto parts, the most in any single month since at least 2010, when the Los Angeles Police Department began making its data public.
Some Westside neighborhoods experienced an increasebecause many houses lackgarages for tenants, Halliday said. She noted that the Los Angeles Police Department embarked on a major campaign in 2022 to etch vehicle identification numbers onto catalytic converters to help trackstolen car parts.
The noticeable drop in auto-part thefts toward the end of2022is also likely attributed to many people returning to work and parking in moresecure garages during the day, said Richard Rosenfeld, an emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Residents also may have adjusted their behavior after a public service campaign by city officials, Park said. Advice has included telling residents to install more cameras, park cars in their driveways or garages instead of the street and engage in neighborhood watch groups.
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Follow Tami Abdollah on Twitter at @latams or email her at tami(at)usatoday.com.
