If one were to read the October 31, 2024 LA Times article, "Anxiety Builds as Crime Increases in Koreatown," one might believe the LAPD has been asleep at the wheel in Koreatown. The overly creative headline alone paints a distorted picture of crime in the entire community.
While it is true that some violent crimes have increased over last year, serious crime overall, or Part I crime, is actually down 12 percent. But that doesn't make for good headlines.
Of the twenty-nine reporting districts that make up Koreatown, 24 are actually showing a decrease in Part I crime compared to last year. More than half of the reporting districts show double-digit crime reductions. Crime has risen in just five districts, three in Wilshire Area and two in Rampart.
In the spirit of transparency, the Department gave the LA Times an itemized listing of crimes for these 29 reporting districts, but the reporters' plan to include a map showing crime increases and decreases, ended up on the newsroom floor. That's unfortunate because that graphic alone would have provided the needed balance to demonstrate the disconnect between the community's fear of crime and the actual incidence of crime. (The map that should have been included in the article is posted with this blog entry.)
It is quite evident from the article that some Koreatown residents believe their Community, particularly at night, is not safe. The LAPD clearly understands and appreciates that a person's perception is their reality, and with crime numbers actually down, the Department has to work even harder to reduce the fear of crime.
Just last week, West Bureau Deputy Chief Michael Hillmann and Captains from the Wilshire, Hollywood, and Rampart police stations met with the Western Corridor Business Watch group. For over three hours these police managers discussed crime trends and proposed strategies to reduce crime and the fear of crime.
An announcement and invite to the meeting was posted on the LAPD blog well in advance of the meeting. It was attended by the business community, local church members, residents and the Korean media. It would have been a good opportunity for the LA Times reporters to see how hard the LAPD is working to address the fear of crime in the community. It would also have been a good chance for them to interview the key managers involved in policing Koreatown. Such interviews were conspicuously absent from the article.
What precipitated the LA Times' article was a triple homicide at a Koreatown restaurant earlier this month. It certainly brought community fears to the surface, but ultimately it must be put in perspective. The police responded quickly, conducted a thorough investigation and identified the perpetrator within 24 hours. Prior to the triple homicide, the number of murders in Koreatown had increased by 3 from the prior year's 15.
So, here's the reality, there have been 533 fewer serious crimes this year in Koreatown, a 12% reduction. Koreatown is actually much safer than many communities. Even so, the LAPD will not be satisfied until the residents of Koreatown really believe they are safe . Now wouldn't that make a good headline!
And the editors at the LA Times wonder why circulation is down. Maybe because their negative spin has disgusted people enough. G-d forbid they say something nice about the Los Angeles Police Dept., no they need to spin it to the negative. Those Wilshire coppers reducing crime in all those RD's keep up the hard work. It is appreciated by us all, even those LA Times editors who probably live in Hancock Park, but will not admit their gratitude for keeping them safe.
Posted by: Law Abiding Citizen | November 01, 2024 at 11:17 AM
I watch the TV news to see what bad has happened, then I read the paper to see what bad has happened that wouldn't fit into the TV newscast.
Thanks for publishing both the bad and the good.
Stay safe!
Mark
Portland, OR
Posted by: Mark | November 01, 2024 at 03:07 PM
I think their circulation is down because people now have alternatives to reading their sensationalism, like this blog. Pretty soon the LA Times will amount to the same as the Enquirer, if they don't grow in accordance with the times. People won't accept that garbage any more.
Posted by: SacPD Sgt | November 01, 2024 at 08:17 PM
This is my first time to know that there is a Koreatown. I assume that there is a lot of Koreans there. The public should read more than one newspaper. The same incident when reported via the different newspaper can convey different meanings.
Posted by: Samantha Sang | November 02, 2024 at 07:01 AM
LAPD Fails Chatsworth
Two board members of the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council have had their children assaulted by street thugs, a lady was stabbed in the Von's parking lot, and a store clerk was clubbed to death during the past few weeks in Chatsworth.
At last night's neighborhood council meeting a LAPD sergeant explained to us that we don't have a Senior Lead Officer because of overtime pay rules, we have one police car to patrol 44 square miles with 40,000 residents, and the LAPD policy is that concealed weapons permits will not be issued to citizens.
If the police cannot protect us, and if we are not allowed to legally carry a weapon for self defense, why are we paying an increased trash collection fee for more protection?
The LAPD sergeant said too many cops are retiring or moving to other cities, and we can't replace them fast enough. Maybe we should fire every cop that works four days a week on his preferred job while using 3/12 LAPD pay as a security cushion (that's 60 percent of the force). We need a solution now. In the meantime I may be forced to break the law to start packing iron for self defense.
Jerry England
Posted by: Jerry England | November 02, 2024 at 07:52 AM
This press release is more smoke and mirrors. I find it ironic, if not hypocritical, of the LAPD to point fingers at any organzation for painting a "distorted picture of crime."
I am getting sick and tired of the Department equating REPORTED crime to ACTUAL crime. I would love for LAPD to explain its assumption that all crime is reported. Especially in a community with an established distrust of the Department.
And while it's all good and well that a suspect has been identified, I find the mention of a suspect in custody conspicuously absent.
Enough of the PR spin already.
Posted by: J Q Public | November 02, 2024 at 09:42 AM
When I was a Times reporter more than a decade ago, I had a brief opportunity to cover and get to know the LAPD and many of its members. I came away from the experience with a great deal of respect for the officers I came to know. They faced an impossible task. Undermanned and outgunned, and with sprawling beats teeming with bad guys and a largely unappreciative populace, they went to work each day and did their best to keep the city safe. Many times, their workaday efforts went beyond heroic. They caught Roland Norman Comtois for his brutal murder of a teenage girl he abducted from a quiet Chatsworth street. They walked through the wreckage of a Hollywood Hills home smashed to pieces by a drunk driver who killed a family's 4-year-old girl as she slept, and they helped that family move forward while obtaining the drunk's conviction for second-degree murder. On numerous occasions, though, their honest efforts came into conflict with the LAPD's institutional obsession with its own self-image.
This blog item attacking the Koreatown story reminded me of a story I wrote years ago about prostitution on Sepulveda Boulevard. The local neighborhood types were upset over how prostitutes and their customers had taken over the area. I quoted an LAPD vice sergeant and got an honest assessment that was roughly consistent with what the neighbors said they had experienced. I never did hear from that sergeant again. But I did hear from the two-star deputy chief who headed Valley Bureau at the time. He intimidated our phone receptionist into demanding that I take his call immediately, as if he were my boss as well as the sergeant's. Needless to say, the sergeant, though his were the boots on the ground, had it wrong. Things weren't that bad. There were statistics that said so, if only I had been willing to listen.
I went back just now and read the Koreatown story, and I saw that it acknowledged that overall crime rates are down in Koreatown and all over the city. But it pointed out that certain violent crimes, including homicide, robbery, and rape, are up in Koreatown. Coupled with the recent heater crimes, the natives are restless. They're so restless that they are starting citizen patrols. The relationship between the department and the residents is a complex one, as a veteran officer diplomatically explained.
Yet the department's reflexive response to the story, as evidenced by this blog, is to rip the Times reporters and editors. I frankly did not read the story as being critical of LAPD, or as suggesting that LAPD is asleep at the wheel in Koreatown. Yes, a resident complained of not enough patrol cars (welcome to Los Angeles) and not hearing back very quickly on a burglary report (welcome to Los Angeles). But overall, the story wasn't about anyone's displeasure with LAPD. It was about the increasing anxiety in the community. I don't doubt that Captain Hillman and the men and women under his charge are doing their best to work together with the community to make things better and assuage community fears. I suggest going forward with that, and with other initiatives, without wasting your energy on getting adversarial with the Times. Maybe a year from now, after you've strengthened the partnership with the residents, after your senior lead officers have tightened their grasps on their beats, and after you've successfully employed Metro or other units on crime-suppression tactics in Koreatown, anxiety will be down. Maybe then the Times will write that story. Okay, I agree that it won't. But it ought not to matter. I believe that among your rank and file, the only thing that matters is getting the job done, and not what is said about it.
Good luck and God's speed to you.
Posted by: Gabe Fuentes | November 02, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Mr. Fuentes,
Thank you for your insight. You seem closer to Wambaugh than to the editorial staff of the Times (Remember J. Michael Kennedy?).
Posted by: Lew | November 02, 2024 at 10:11 PM