Report: Homicides In LA Increased By 20% In First 9 Months Of 2020
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — While overall crime has decreased in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of homicides increased by 20% this year compared to 2019, according to a report released Monday.
Though the city has seen a drop of 9.7% in overall crime this year as compared to last year, the number of homicides has increased by 20% with 239 people killed between January and September 2020 — up from 199 people during the same period last year, according to the Crosstown report.
July had the most killings in at least a decade with 40 reported homicides, followed by September with 36 reported killings. The highest number of reported homicides in one month in 2019 was 27, according to the report.
The Vermont Square area of South Los Angeles saw the biggest increase, with 12 homicide victims in the first nine months of 2020, compared to three during the same period of 2019. Boyle Heights and Downtown have each had 15 reported homicides this year.
"With COVID having everything closed, there are fewer mediations happening for a lot of people with no guidance and it's causing a lot of friction," Curtis Woodle, a retired Los Angeles police officer who worked as a gang intervention liaison for eight years, told Crosstown.
Cpt. Paul Vernon, who heads the LAPD's Compstat division, told Crosstown he believes the double-digit increase was "significant," particularly in light of the fact that the city's homicide rate has steadily fallen over the past three decades — including a nearly 13% decrease from 2016 to 2019.
Crosstown is a nonprofit news organization based out of USC's Annenberg School of Journalism.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
