The number of homicides in Los Angeles so far this year is up 28 percent from the same time last year, Police Chief Dominic Choi said March 26.
Speaking at a Board of Police Commissioners meeting, the LAPD chief said this year’s total of 73 homicides is more than last year’s 57, but violent crime overall has increased just 3 percent.
Robberies, which Mr. Choi said “plague us as a crime problem,” increased 9.5 percent
Mr. Choi said the category of robberies with the biggest increase has been motor vehicle thefts, up 6 percent from 2023, with Kias, Chevrolets and Hyundais being the most stolen vehicles. E-bike and scooter robberies have jumped 4.6 percent.
Other kinds of robberies on the rise are those with firearms, which are up 2.9 percent, and gang-related robberies, which have increased 5.3 percent from last year. However, these types of robberies are down in comparison with 2022, with a 25.5 percent decrease for gang-related robberies and 35 percent for robberies with firearms.
There have been decreases in other types of crimes as wel: Property crime fell by 4.6 percent and commercial burglaries by 6.1 percent, although residential burglaries rose by 4.5 percent, according to Mr. Choi.
Mr. Choi said the statistics could have some discrepancies since they did not include data from the LAPD’s Central Bureau.
Board Vice President Rasha Gerges Shields asked Mr. Choi how the department will address these increases, highlighting how citizens’ sense of safety could be diminished. .
Mr. Choi replied that the LAPD already had “specific strategies” to address these concerns “at the area level, at the bureau level and even at the department-wide level.”
“We’ve done a deeper dive to see where these are occurring, what time and focusing our resources at those types of places,” he said.
Mr. Choi pointed out the recent creation of the South American Theft Group Task Force for residential home burglaries as an example of the steps the department is taking.
Mr. Choi also mentioned that community programs such as Coffee With A Cop could make people feel more safe.
“What I’ve learned and what I’ve seen is when the community member has a direct link to an officer, whether it’s the captain or their senior lead officer or patrol officers, that sense of safety goes up because they have somebody to lean on,” Choi said.
As part of his weekly update, Mr. Choi noted that the department has 8,866 sworn officers, and civilian personnel staffing is at 2,627. Reserve officers remain at 443.
