The number of crimes committed in Los Angeles County has declined as people heed stay-at-home orders issued in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to local law enforcement officials.
“Crime is down 8 percent since the onset of the local COVID-19 pandemic,” Burbank police Sgt. Derek Green said Thursday morning. “Calls for service are down about 13 percent (and) traffic collisions down about 6 percent, likely attributed to less vehicles on the road.”
On Wednesday, Sheriff Alex Villanueva released figures from his department also reflecting a crime drop.
“We took a pulse of the overall county crime numbers yesterday, and it was for violent crimes … a 10-percent drop, and for overall crime throughout the county, it was a 6-percent drop,” Villanueva said.
The Los Angeles Police Department was similarly responding to fewer crimes.
“I think we are seeing a reduction in both violent and property crime (and) we’re surely seeing a reduction in our call load,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore told ABC7 earlier this week.
Burglaries in Los Angeles are down 16 percent and personal thefts by 15 percent, Josh Rubenstein, the LAPD’s communications director, told CBSLA.
“That would make sense because people are at home right now, so those property crimes are down,” he said.
It’s a similar story in Pasadena and elsewhere countywide.
“Right now, like other cities, we are seeing less crime. But we take into consideration that a lot of businesses, schools and restaurants are closed down and people are staying at home and looking out for each other,” Pasadena city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian told City News Service.
The reduction in crime rates may also be due to an increase in patrols, according to Derderian.
Moore said an increased number of LAPD officers are on the streets because of a switch to 12-hour shifts. He stressed that a 12-hour shift is longer for the officers involved.
“The 12-hour shift for an officer really means a 15- or 16-hour day at a minimum, because (of) time to travel to the workplace (and) prepare for the work shift,” Moore said. “And when they work a solid 12, then they have to come back to the station dump their gear, and get ready to go home.”
Some officers are being provided places to sleep at a police training facility at the end of their shifts, rather than going home, Moore said.
