EDITOR'S NOTE: Multimedia journalist Taylor Torregano spoke to a store manager on Melrose about the recent spike in retail crime. Click the arrow to watch the video.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — While robberies overall have decreased by 12.7% this year compared to 2019, last week had the highest number of robberies for the entire year, with about 200 reported, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday.
The vast majority of the 200 robberies reported last week were street robberies, Moore added.
What You Need To Know
- While robberies overall have decreased by 12.7% this year compared to 2019, last week had the highest number of robberies for the entire year
- The vast majority of the 200 robberies reported last week were street robberies, said LA Police Chief Michel Moore
- Overall robberies are up 4.7% compared to 2020
- Over the last year, violent crime in LA has increased by 6.3%
"We've seen in September, October and November instances of robberies increase, particularly the percentages of those robberies being committed by individuals with handguns or firearms," Moore said.
Overall robberies are up 4.7% compared to 2020, but Moore indicated that number could be considered something of an anomaly.
"Now we still are 12.7% fewer robberies overall in the city than we did from two years ago, recognizing that the COVID years, for lack of a better term, last year was a bit of an outlier on a number of factors," Moore said.
Moore also said the department expects to have recovered 9,000 firearms in 2021 by the end of the year, "which will be a significant number higher than any of our previous years in recent memory."
Over the last year, violent crime in LA has increased by 6.3%, Moore said, representing an additional 1,665 violent crimes. Homicides have risen from 317 last year to 361 during the same period this year, and over a two-year period, homicides have increased by 49.2%, he said.
Aggravated assaults have increased 8% this year compared to last year, and 16.4% over a two year period.
"This is a city of 4 million in a region of 10 million, so the vastness of it, people need to recognize that the vast majority of Angelenos are safe, but they need to exercise good preventative measures," Moore said.
Noting a series of smash and grab robberies and follow-home robberies that have been reported in recent weeks in Los Angeles, Moore said people should be careful wearing expensive jewelry, driving expensive vehicles and leaving high end establishments, because people may be targeting them for robberies.