Authorities in Los Angeles are touting a citywide drop in violent crime in 2023, based on statistics released on Wednesday.
Homicides were down 17% over 2022 and, overall, violent crime was down 3.2%, according to a Los Angeles Police Department.
Property crime, however, climbed 3.5% over the prior year, and thefts citywide, including retail theft cases, were up 16%. There were 137 flash mob robberies throughout the city in 2023, officials said.
Nearly 30% of all vehicle thefts involved a Kia or a Hyundai.
With the new year, officials are proposing new crime mitigation strategies to help curb some of the city’s most common crimes. One step already taken by authorities is the creation of the Organized Retail Crime Task Force, which made more arrests in 2023 than any previous year, LAPD said.
Among other proposed measures is a pilot program for license plate readers introduced by City Councilman John Lee, whose District 12 covers the northwestern portion of the San Fernando Valley.
Parts of the San Fernando Valley reported massive upticks in crimes, including a neighborhood in Lee’s district north of Rinaldi Street which reported a 103% increase in burglaries in that area, LAPD said.
The motion would allocate $500,000 to the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting and LADOT to begin implementation of the cameras.
Outgoing LAPD Chief Michel Moore supports the proposal.
“Technology is a crucial element in advancing the safety of Los Angeles, [including] incorporating cutting-edge technologies,” Moore said in a statement. “I want to express my gratitude to Councilmember Lee for his support and investment in automated license plate readers for the LAPD, which has already proven to be a successful initiative in other communities.”
In Beverly Hills, license plate readers helped authorities solve several homicides, including the apprehension of alleged serial killer Jerrid Joseph Powell, who is accused of killing three homeless men in L.A. and another man in San Dimas in November.
Powell’s license plate number was entered into an automatic reader system when his vehicle was identified as one possibly connected to the San Dimas murder, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
“We know there’s controversy out there about the usage of this system, but let me tell our community something,” Luna said at a November press conference. “If we did not enter that plate into the system, this individual that we believe is responsible for at least four murders may have [still] been out there and reoffended.”
At Wednesday’s press conference, Chief Moore, who is set to retire at the end of February, commended law enforcement’s hard work at reducing crime, adding that even though the “perception of safety” in L.A. isn’t always accurate, there is still a long way to go.
“There is much more work to be done, and I am proud of the results that have been achieved,” he said. “But I also recognize that the perception of safety remains a concern across this great city.”
“Our commitment is to address that perception as well as the increased gun violence that we see far too much of still on our streets,” Chief Moore added.