Crime & Safety

2011 Crime in L.A. Lowest Since 1957

A sizeable police force, despite threats of budget cuts, is responsible for the decline, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck says in his annual news conference.

Los Angeles recorded the lowest level of per-capita crime in 53 years during 2011—the ninth successive year in which the city has seen a steady increase in public safety, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in his annual “End of Year Crime Statistics” news conference Thursday.

L.A. recorded 104,215 violent and property crimes—and the city’s goal for 2012 is to bring the total number of such serious crimes below 100,000, a target Beck referred to as “the holy grail of policing in Los Angeles,” according to CBS News.

Beck, who presented the crime numbers at the Los Angeles Police Administration Building downtown along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, attributed the decline in crime to the sizeable police force—9,963 officers—which, he said, is a “tempting target” for budget cuts but a “false” one because “public safety is … the most important job of government.”

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