Overall crime in Los Angeles has nearly leveled off at the midyear mark, police Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday, calling 2017’s numbers a sign that police are making progress against the city’s stubborn uptick in crime. He later credited the progress to a variety of factors: shifting department resources to target violent crime, improving predictive policing to help stem property crime, adapting to changes in legislation and a “relentless focus” on crime from LAPD brass. If overall crime ultimately falls this year, it will mark the first such decrease since 2014. “But we’ll see.”The most significant change this year has been in violent crime, which Beck said has risen about 1%. In both 2016 and 2015, the LAPD reported double-digit increases in violent crime at the midyear mark.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 06, 2017 19:52 UTC