As Los Angeles prepares to expand its police force with a boost in spending and plans to hire hundreds more officers, new data show that crime in the city has dropped moderately in 2023.
Through May 20, L.A. experienced a drop of more than 10% in violent crime this year compared with the same period in 2022. Property crime fell by slightly more than 1%, and arrests were up 4.4%, according to Police Department data.
By contrast, violent and property crimes both spiked in the first five months of 2022; the decline in violent crime this year brings the total for 2023 close to its 2021 level, but property crime remains significantly higher than it was two years ago.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.