In a city that averages one homicide a day, Los Angeles police are marking a public safety milestone.
There have been no homicides within city limits for 10 days and 10 nights – a feat that has not been seen since 2010.
The latest homicide happened on Oct. 8, when a 27-year-old man was killed as he sat a stop light after dropping off his mother at a bus stop in South Los Angeles.
That man’s slaying marked the 217th in the city this year, according to LAPD.
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Multiple changes in law enforcement – including new technologies – are credited with lowering the homicide rate in LA 9 percent since last year.
“Considering the number of shootings – every night there’s ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pow,’ you know, somebody is doing something – our guys have seized a number of guns, that’s probably helped a lot with homicides,” said Lt. Ellis Imaizumi, with LAPD’s Newton Division.
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In that precinct, law enforcement is using predictive policing to inform their patrols. A map marks hot spots of crime in the area.
“Somebody will say, ‘Is this kind of a guessing game?’ It could be; it could be looked at that. But this is like a probability map, so to speak,” Imaizumi said.
Within the Newtown Divison’s boundaries, 12 people have been killed so far this year. That’s a significant contrast from the 1990s, when more than 100 people on average were slain in the same time period.
