Note: This article first appeared on Crosstown and is shared with their permission in partnership with Los Angeleno. You can subscribe to Crosstown for crime, traffic and air quality news here.
See how crime in every L.A. neighborhood fared during the shutdown.
As the coronavirus pandemic has surged, crime has fallen sharply in the City of Los Angeles. There were 98,140 crimes reported during the first six months of 2020, an 8.5% drop from the same period in 2019, according to Los Angeles Police Department data.
The drop includes an 8.7% decrease in violent crime (a category that includes aggravated assaults and domestic violence) during the first six months of this year. According to the LAPD, in a majority of incidents, a suspect’s weapon of choice was their hands, fist, feet or other body parts; this category accounted for 64% of all reported violent crimes.
However, the decrease has not been even: Hate crime is rising in the city, murders are up and there has been a spike in vehicle thefts as people leave their cars on the streets for extended periods.