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LAPD Redeploys Officers To South LA Amid Jump In Shootings

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Hundreds of additional LAPD officers have been redeployed to the South Los Angeles area to help stem a jump in the number of shootings, police said Friday.

Since mid-August, about 100 officers from LAPD Metropolitan Division were added to the Central and South Bureaus following a sharp rise in homicides in the area, according to police.

Beck told reporters earlier this week that out of the 17 murders in South Los Angeles last month, 14 of them were gang-related.

Friday morning brought more violence after one person was killed and two more were wounded in a car-to-car shooting the 9300 block of Central Avenue, police said.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said he met with commanders in the department's South Bureau this week to review their plans for addressing the uptick in gang, such as staffing a command center and adjusting police resources while working with the community.

"Having said that, gang crime is violent crime in Los Angeles," Beck said. "Over 55 percent of our homicides are traditionally gang-related, almost 25 percent of our violent crime. This is the issue that Los Angeles has to deal with most centrally to impact crime."

KCAL9's Jennifer Kastner said the spike in deadly violence has led to the drastic response.

The number of homicides in August alone jumped to 39.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said Los Angeles was still the safest big city in America.

Across the city, "we are dealing with near historic lows," the mayor said, "we haven't seen levels like this since the 50s. But as I remind people, if you're in an area where you hear gunshots, and you see people being killed on your block so what? You feel it and and you hear it."

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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