Violent Crime Drops In Downtown

Decrease of 4% Follows 24% Fall in 2007, But Property Thefts Shoot Up 12%

Almost two years after the introduction of the Safer Cities Initiative, violent crime continues to fall in Downtown Los Angeles, LAPD Central Division officials said last week. After a double-digit decline last year, violent crime has fallen 4% in the first five months of 2008, according to department statistics.

Arts District Senior Lead Officer Jack Richter after a weekly LAPD crime prevention meeting last Wednesday. Police officials say a combination of neighborhood involvement and a crackdown on criminals has reduced violent crime in Downtown. Photo by Gary Leonard Violent crimes tracked by the department include rapes, robberies and assaults. Although a 4% decrease may seem relatively insignificant, it follows a 24% decline in violent crime in 2007, said Central Division Capt. Jodi Wakefield.

"It was really hard to beat those numbers, so we've been very fortunate in that we still have a reduction in violent crimes," Wakefield said.

By comparison, violent crime in the entire city of Los Angeles has decreased by 7% since the start of the year, compared to the same period in 2007, according to the LAPD. While the drop exceeds the one in Central Division, citywide numbers did not fall as drastically last year as they did Downtown, Wakefield said.

But as violent crime has diminished in Downtown, Central Division officers are trying to combat an increase in property thefts, in particular items taken from cars.

Since January, Downtown has seen 1,054 property thefts (which include burglaries, car thefts and some other crimes), or 12% more than the 1,183 incidents that were reported in the first five months of 2007. Police officials believe both trends - the sustained drop in violent crime and the simultaneous uptick in property theft - stem from the influx of new residents in the area and the growth of a Downtown nightlife scene. While a more visible and engaged residential community has helped deter violent crime, it has also brought more fancy cars and valuables to the area. Those make for more inviting and, sometimes, easier targets for opportunists, Wakefield said.

"Because of the revitalization of Downtown, we're falling victim to our own good work," she said. "We have more cars, more businesses, so we're target-rich, and people are desperate to break into cars and businesses to get their money to buy their dope." Smoother Criminals

The overall fall in violent crime Downtown so far this year has been bolstered by a 21% reduction in aggravated assaults, from 227 in the first five months of 2007 to 180 so far this year. But not all categories of violent crime have dipped: Rapes shot up 50%, from 14 to 21, and robberies spiked 15% from 173 last year to 199 so far this year. Additionally, there has been only one homicide so far Downtown in 2008, a shooting in January outside the Crash Mansion nightclub. By this time last year, there had been two murders in Downtown.

While there are less violent crimes to investigate in total, Central Division officers do not have it easy. For LAPD Sgt. Andy Mathes, work these days is especially tough. The officer in charge of the Crime Suppression Detail, which works largely undercover, Mathes says Downtown criminals have grown increasingly savvy when it comes to detecting covert police operations.

Not too long ago, when Mathes would deploy a "bait car" (which he stocks with valuables like laptops, then leaves the car unlocked and watches from a distance only to pounce on would-be thieves), he might make six arrests in two hours, he said. In recent months far fewer suspects have taken the bait. "Lately we've been very unlucky," he said.

If it has become harder for Mathes and his crew to make arrests, that's good news for Downtown residents, he said, because it reflects the presence of fewer criminals.

Yet those looking to snatch valuables from cars are likely more skilled than many of the thieves who were arrested in the past three years, he said. After the department launched the Safer Cities Initiative in September 2006, which deployed 50 new officers to Skid Row, overall crime dropped significantly as the beefed-up police presence led to more arrests of repeat offenders.

"The dumb ones are easy to catch," Mathes said. "What we're left with is the really entrenched, high-functioning criminal elements that are out there."

Police officials also believe that the toppling in May 2007 of the Fifth and Hill gang, which controlled a significant portion of the heroin trade Downtown, plus an injunction filed by the District Attorney's office barring known members from congregating in a large swath of Downtown, has helped decrease violent crime. Community Policing Officer Jack Richter, the senior lead officer assigned to the Arts District, believes that the growing residential community in his area has played a crucial role in deterring violent crime in Downtown Los Angeles.

A strong believer in the broken windows theory - championed by LAPD Chief William Bratton, it holds that cracking down on small, quality-of-life crimes like graffiti and littering helps prevent significant crimes - Richter points to the increased participation by Arts District residents in keeping the mostly industrial neighborhood clean, safe and vibrant. For example, every Wednesday evening Richter walks the streets in the Arts District with members of the area's Neighborhood Watch group.

"Environment is crucial to crime prevention, and our environment down here has improved dramatically in the last 10 years," he said. John Saslow, the volunteer block captain for the Arts District Neighborhood Watch, has observed a consistent decline in crime as more residents have moved in.

"It's a bit of a natural turn of events. The homeless and dealers who were there don't really like the interaction," Saslow said. "We maybe have more burglaries from motor vehicles, which is a small crime in comparison to murder or having a gun, which used to happen, and I think that'll change too. I think eventually there's not going to be much of a dealing faction here."

Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.