Understanding the Riots--Six Months Later : A New Blue Line / REMAKING THE LAPD : A Rise in Crime . . . A Decline in Arrests

Serious--or Part I--crimes are on the rise in Los Angeles. They rose 9% from 1989 to 1991 and are projected to increase again this year. But arrests for Part I crimes are slightly down. Arrests for all other crimes--known as Part II offenses--have plummeted. They fell 31% from 1989 to 1991 in Los Angeles and are on a pace this year to fall to nearly half of the 1989 level. In the nation’s cities as a whole, Part II arrests rose 2% from 1989 to 1991.

Part I Arrests: For homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson. Because these crimes are so serious, officers tend to have the least discretion in making arrests.

Analysis of LAPD arrest statistics shows that declines in most categories began in 1990 and accelerated following the March, 1991, beating of Rodney G. King. Many police officers have attributed the decline to plunging morale among officers in the field, some of whom may want to minimize their confrontations with the public to reduce the chances of being the subject of citizens’ complaints.

Drug Arrests:

1/90.....4,432

12/90....2,789

3/91.....2,983 (Month of King beating)

5/92.....1,592

9/92.....2,529

Driving While Intoxicated Arrests:

5/90.....3,842

3/91.....3,184 (Month of King beating)

5/92.....1,760

8/92.....2,200

Liquor Law Arrests:

7/90....4,324

3/91....1,871 (Month of King beating)

12/91.....772

9/92....1,969

Drug arrests, which have been falling in cities nationally, have been falling twice as fast in Los Angeles. Liquor law violations, which have also been falling nationally, have been declining seven times as fast in Los Angeles. Driving while intoxicated arrests have been holding steady nationally, while falling here by 20%. Reasons for the steeper local declines may include fallout from the King beating and the LAPD’s shrinking size. The LAPD has assigned no one to try to figure it out.

* Patrol officers make most drug arrests.

** Traffic officers make most driving-while-intoxicated arrests.

*** In the late 1980s, the LAPD switched primary responsibility for issuing drinking in public citations from vice officers to patrol officers for whom such citations are a lower priority.