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Since the coronavirus pandemic started three years ago in 2020, Los Angeles residents have become increasingly aware of what they believe to be growing crime rates in their respective neighborhoods. How they go about their lives and overall feeling of safety have changed, affecting their quality of life.
The findings shown allow Angelenos to understand this metropolitan’s public safety situations from pre-pandemic times to the present. Crime rates are nowhere near the highs reached during the 1990s and the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but that doesn’t mean the current crime rates should be overlooked.
California ranked as the state with the third highest standard of living in America, causing its residents to resort to other means as a resource to be capable of survival in the expensive state in addition to high inflation rates.
Lack of financial resources, unemployment, displacement, homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse and social injustice amidst the pandemic have been enablers for the latest increase in the city’s crime.
The pandemic created a situation where people were not wanted in custody for health concerns. Due to coronavirus, more people were at home with their cars parked and not in use, catering to the trend of vehicle crimes as well.
LA City Crime Rates
The city of Los Angeles reached an all-time high in crime this past year in over a decade with more than 230,000 incidents. From 2021 to 2022, crime rates rose 11%. The second-highest reported year was 2017 from occurrences in 2010-2022.
Data reflects reported cases to the Los Angeles Police Department, which does not represent all possible committed crimes victims did not report. Data accumulation was done with the help of Crosstown, a nonprofit newsroom within the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. The nonprofit aims to provide accessible neighborhood statistics from public sources available to improve the delivery of local news through numbers.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program, violent crime contains four offenses: aggravated assault, robbery, rape and murder. Under the UCR, property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.
Suspects have changed their strategies and targeted neighborhoods with a higher median income including those of the Westside and Valley regions.
“Before, everybody could say the crime only impacted the inner city, South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, all the lower-income and lower socioeconomic locations, but not today. Now you're getting robberies, follow-home robberies in Beverly Hills, the Westside and Hancock Park,” said Moses Castillo, retired LAPD Detective who worked in law enforcement for nearly 30 years.
| LA City's Top 15 Median Income Neighborhoods |
|---|
| 1. Bel-Air |
| 2. Beverly Crest |
| 3. Pacific Palisades |
| 4. Porter Ranch |
| 5. Brentwood |
| 6. Cheviot Hills |
| 7. Hollywood Hills West |
| 8. Beverlywood |
| 9. West Hills |
| 10. Century City |
| 11. Playa del Rey |
| 12. Woodland Hills |
| 13. West Los Angeles |
| 14. Hancock Park |
| 15. Chatsworth |
“They like to come to West LA, it's more expensive here and there are more opportunities to steal,” said Brentwood LAPD Senior Lead Officer Matthew Kirk.
In over half of the 15 highest-income neighborhoods, crime rates reached highs in 2021 and 2022 from 2019. Bel-Air and West LA were the only areas that saw its highest rate during the 2020 pandemic year. The five remaining communities saw their four-year highs in 2019.
“It's the opportunity and the safer neighborhoods, they just know that people may be more relaxed versus if you lived in a more unsafe part of LA. People are more on the defensive,” said Officer Kirk.
Angelenos are adjusting to this new cautious lifestyle in different ways as they keep their guard up. Residents have come to terms with the prominent crime and are learning to adapt. Hired private security guards are present at many storefronts such as pharmacies, grocery stores, shopping centers or movie theatres.
“We can't go anywhere without the fear of being a victim of crime,” Castillo stated.
The Current Criminal Justice System
Some residents say the LA criminal justice system needs reform under current LA County District Attorney George Gascón. The DA is up for reelection in 2024 after being elected to office in 2020. Gascón’s policies include the diversion of misdemeanors outside the criminal justice system, zero bail for nonviolent defendants and ending the death penalty.
For more of Gascon’s directives click here:
L.A. District Attorney George Gascon’s Criminal Justice Policies
“They come back and pick up a new case,” said Miji John Vellakkatel, Deputy District Attorney with the LADA. “If you have a repeat offender, the consequences are going to go up. But what's happening today is that we're not seeing that. They're not seeing that decreased level of consequence or punishment, knowing that if [they] do commit another offense, it's going to be the same punishment or something less.”
The LADA office mission statement:
“The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will advance an effective, ethical and racially equitable system of justice that protects the community, restores victims of crime and honors the rights of the accused. We are a learning organization that believes in reduced incarceration and punishment except in circumstances in which it is proportional, in the community’s interest and serves a rehabilitative or restorative purpose.”
“For the first time in my lifetime, I'm seeing these dangerous criminals getting the least amount of charges filed because of these progressive DAs,” said the former detective.
Critics attempted to recall the DA, but it was rejected in Aug. 2022. The organizers were not able to collect the necessary number of petition signatures to meet the requirement according to the county clerk’s office.
“What we're also finding is that people from other counties are coming in to commit crimes because they know it's less strict in LA County,” Vellakkatel said.
Besides the LADA, there is also a call to action within the system itself through the creation of programs with the motto: “Care first, jails last.” This premise is focused on finding alternatives for individuals besides incarceration.
LA County formed the Justice Care and Opportunities Department in 2022 to centralize all the services and programs offered to those who are justice-impacted. JCOD’s goal is to lower the county’s reliance on incarceration and shape succeeding communities through programs of prevention, justice system intervention and diversion, stabilization, rehabilitation and reentry with the long-term result of closing Men’s Central Jail.
“The best way to avoid recidivism is to make sure people aren't in the system in the first place,” said Rourke Stacy-Padilla, former Senior Deputy County Counsel who is now assigned to JCOD’s Jail Closure Implementation Team.
Stacy was the victim of a violent crime in 1997 and dedicated her life to becoming a public defender in the LA County Public Defender’s Office for nearly 20 years working for juveniles.
“When you're dealing with somebody who's in custody, being in custody is difficult. It's oppressive. It’s not a comfortable place to be,” the public defender said.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline also launched nationwide in July 2022. In LA County, it is operated by the Department of Mental Health. Mental health professionals respond to crises instead of law enforcement with the intent to lower arrests and aid the mentally ill.
Increased Awareness
Popular public safety applications with easily accessible neighborhood updates brought more occurrences to the surface since users can get daily updates and view posted videos and photos by fellow community members.
“Because of social media we are on apps like Nextdoor or Citizen, and since I'm more aware, it feels more unsafe,” said Elena Ahtaeva, the owner of Wonderlash Eyelash Extensions and LA resident.
Nextdoor stated the app is used in 1 in 3 U.S. households while Citizen is used in 60 cities nationwide.
Violent Crime
In these last four years, violent crime rates reached a peak last year with approximately 23,000 reported incidents. Although violent crime lowered in the city during the pandemic, it increased the next year and has not returned below the pre-pandemic amount in 2019, rising 7% since then.
“What we're seeing right now is people moving to higher level violent felonies, shooting and killing in broad daylight,” said the Deputy DA.
According to the LAPD 2022 Homicide Report and the California Department of Justice, the city had a 5% decrease in homicides from 2021. Law enforcement categorizes homicides into three different categories: domestic, homeless or gang-related which accounted for over half of total homicides in 2022. The highest primary motives are dispute/revenge, gang and robbery.
Homicides are categorized as homeless-related when either the victim or the suspect experienced homelessness. In most of these homeless-related homicides, approximately 83% of the individuals involved were homeless victims rather than suspects. It tends to occur amongst each other in their encampments.
“The homeless, some are mentally ill, some are using drugs,” Kirk claimed. “They're not the ones that are breaking into a $10 million mansion. Usually, organized criminals do that. The crimes the homeless do are committed amongst each other, stealing each other's belongings or going into a commercial business and stealing stuff they need to survive on the street.”
The South Bureau reported the most homicides in the city from 2020 to 2022 followed by the Central Bureau with a rise of 1%.
Lori Kupfer’s 24-year-old daughter, Brianna Kupfer, was killed. Brianna’s death occurred on Jan. 13, 2022, just after 1 p.m. in broad daylight. According to law enforcement, the suspect did not know the victim and randomly attacked her with a knife. There was no direct motive. He was seen wearing a white N-95 mask and sunglasses.
The Brentwood Senior Lead stated, “The problem was that COVID made it very common for people to wear a mask. It was great for the criminals because they could put on a mask and a baseball cap, and nobody would think twice about it. It made it very hard to try and identify [suspects] when people would send surveillance videos.”
The autopsy revealed the UCLA graduate student was stabbed 26 times at Croft House during her shift alone. The furniture store is located in Hancock Park on North La Brea Ave., an upscale neighborhood within the Wilshire community.
“He knows what he's doing,” said Kupfer. “He's been in and out of the criminal system. He hasn't really been in the criminal system. He keeps getting arrested and keeps getting away with it.”
“The Three-Strikes laws, good enhancements, special allegations; they're already on the books. They exist, they're just not being applied and because of that, these guys are getting away with murder,” Castillo said.
The Brianna Kupfer case was one of the seven homicides that took place in the Wilshire area that year. Wilshire had more than double the number of homicides in 2021 compared to 2022 and 2020.
The upscale furniture store placed a sign on the entrance stating it now takes showings by appointment only.
Kupfer and her family have dealt with the trial against Shawn Laval Smith, 32, for over a year. The mother and former defense attorney addressed her experience within the LA criminal justice system since Brianna’s death.
“It took about a year for Gascón to finally allow all the charges to be brought against [Smith],” said Kupfer. “That just puts it in front of a jury, you still have to prove it and the jury has to accept it.”
John McKinney, the prosecutor on the case and LA Deputy District Attorney, was pulled from the case and transferred by Gascón in Sept. 2022. The senior prosecutor is known for his high-profile cases including the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle. McKinney has publicly criticized the DA’s reforms.
The suspect is accused of fatally stabbing the Pacific Palisades native with two special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and use of a knife according to the indictment filed on Nov. 15.
Smith currently faces the possibility of a life sentence with no parole if convicted.
“This man needs to be in jail for a very long time,” said Brianna’s mother. “He doesn't need to be loose. This was what our criminal system was supposed to be doing, protecting us from people like this when it's 100 percent that they did it. 100 percent they shouldn't be in society. That's what they need to protect us.”
Lori believes there is more crime in the city since she’s had more people reach out to her following the stabbing telling her about incidences they’ve experienced.
“As a family, we are completely PTSD about anyone's safety,” said Kupfer. “We’re all so worried. That has nothing to do with crime really, but because something unimaginable happen[ed]. And now you worry that it could happen again.”
April 9 would have marked Brianna’s 26th birthday.
“We have to think about what the victim's family is going through and what they're experiencing, and how they're being treated within the system itself,” Vellakkatel said.
The high-income neighborhoods facing the most violence are located in the San Fernando Valley: Chatsworth, West Hills and Woodland Hills. The remaining West LA areas have encountered under 200 incidents in four years, yet still face killings. In 2021, violent crime rose 7% in these areas from 2019 with only 3 fewer occurrences last year.
During the three years, the West Bureau which covers 11 of the 15 highest-income neighborhoods, saw a 7% growth in homicides.
The Operations Valley Bureau coverage includes the neighborhoods mentioned of Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, West Hills and Woodland Hills. OVB saw an 18% homicide spike in 2022 from 2020.
Property Crime
Citywide property crime climbed above 100,000 in 2022, a number that has not been reached in all four years. This marks a 22% jump in just a year from 2021.
According to Kirk, property crimes are more common in West LA versus other areas such as South LA where there are more shootings and violent occurrences. In Brentwood, the biggest issue is auto vehicle break-ins since people leave valuable items visible in their cars. Amazon packages are also a target for thieves to easily grab and leave.
These neighborhoods followed the trend of the rest of the city last year and saw a 7% uptick in property-related crimes. Compared to 2019, there were 11 fewer incidents in 2022.
“The burglaries are much more of a thing that criminals are doing because they don't want any confrontation with people,” claimed Kirk. “If they get caught in a burglary versus a home invasion robbery, the time they would go to jail would be a lot more for a home invasion robbery.”
“I was in denial; I could not believe it,” said Elena Ahtaeva. “Then I rushed to work and when I got here, I saw shattered glass everywhere. It definitely looked like it was a break-in and somebody got inside.”
The Westwood business owner’s studio was the subject of a break-in on Oct. 29. No one was present at the time of the incident at about 2 a.m., but an unknown suspect shattered a glass screen door with a seven-pound concrete block to enter her establishment. The individual took a visible iPad device and ran. The window to her eyelash studio is still not repaired and has instead been replaced by a wooden beam.
West Los Angeles Bureau police estimated $800 was stolen, and the damages would cost $2,000.
“I had to take measures myself to secure the place and install the scissor gate that protects the windows, and reinforce the locks and doors on my own,” said the lash technician.
Along with her studio, Ahtaeva claimed her neighboring businesses had break-ins as well and took extra security measures. The perfume store next door built a bulletproof back door to protect its expensive products.
“I also have a new protocol where I try to schedule people to work together so that no one person is working by herself at night,” said the esthetician. “We keep the front door locked at all times.”
Ahtaeva was also the victim of four vehicle break-ins since 2020 because she forgot to lock her car.
“They leave the car unlocked with the keys in the car. It makes it really easy for criminals to come here. If they get a car that easily, chances are they might come back in a short amount of time,” stated Kirk.
Changing the Statistics
Creating change in public safety starts at the community level, teaching individuals at a young age what is right and what is wrong. Many of the youth involved with crime are lacking guiding figures. The best approach is finding relatable mentors to be case managers for them who have the same shared lived experience, those will be the best teachers.
“I definitely think more people are starting to realize that it's so much better to address the criminogenic basis of crime than just lock people up,” said Stacy.
Community engagement is aimed at the prevention of entering the system, but once in the system the stakes change. The plan then becomes reentry into society for these individuals and how the city can provide them with an adequate plan. It is a challenging transition to go from being in jail to free on the streets. There is also a fear of retaliation among victims when the offender is freed.
There is an internal institutional division within the criminal justice system that views the law and its progressivity of it on very different scales. Critics call for a “tough on crime” approach that would be more rigid with nonviolent crimes and stricter on minors.
“[Organized crime members] also know that the minors are juveniles and are not going to be tried as adults. A lot of these smash-and-grabs, they're all minors,” said the former detective.
California enacted the Three-Strikes Law in 1994, which was used to lower crime following the Los Angeles riots and high-profile murderers committed by repeat offenders. The law is still valid today, but believed to not be enforced enough.
“Once the Three-Strikes Law came into effect and they started enforcing it, people started going to prison for life. That took a huge downward spiral where for the longest time, the city of LA never reached over 300 homicides a year for decades. Now, it's beyond that,” claimed Castillo.
“Criminals are the first to know that it's easy on crime in all those smash-and-grabs,” Brianna Kupfer’s mother said. “I believe in people's rights, but when the evidence is clear against someone; the law should be a little stricter because that would prevent some crimes.”
As LA strives to create alternative services to increase public safety, there is a call for more law enforcement.
“We need to take a stance where we show support for law enforcement; the police chiefs, the DA and the mayors of the county come together,” Castillo said. “And if you do the crime, you will be held accountable.”
“My number one job as mayor is to keep Angelenos safe, but the unfortunate reality is that LAPD is down hundreds of officers,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in her State of the City Address on April 17. “The situation we currently face means we could see the number of LAPD officers drop below 9,000 and we have not seen numbers that low since 2002.”
The mayor mentioned her budget focuses on the urgent recruitment of officers to restore the department and also provide officers with mental health training for when they encounter mentally ill individuals. The mayor also planned to make the city’s mental health crisis team available to the entire city 24/7.
Bass stated, “By adding these resources and building more trust between communities and the department we will better meet our priorities of reducing property crime, maintaining the downward trend in violent crime and increasing homicide clearance rates. However, safety is not just about policing - and it’s time we embrace that in City Hall.”
She launched the formation of the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety, which creates a place for psychologists, community intervention workers and social workers to help when the police presence is not needed.
“We see what the reality is,” said Vellakkatel. “We see the ground level. We see what our victims are facing. We see the challenges in the communities and the neighborhoods, and we're trying to do our best to respond to it.”
“It’s time we draw on the wisdom within our neighborhoods to craft our strategy for Angelenos to both be safe and to feel safe as we build our new LA,” said Bass.
As the year 2023 shows promise, it’s up to the city and its people to reform itself and reverse the trends. Both the victims and the suspects are affected by these statistics. Los Angeles became foreign with a looming truth of higher crime rates. The landscape has changed for individuals who were willing to risk it all because of their circumstances and divert to easy target areas for survival. Crime has no boundaries in Los Angeles and regardless of where in the city residents are located, change is needed.
“This shouldn’t be a party issue. It’s a human rights issue,” said Castillo.