There was one silver lining in the disappointing mid-year crime statistics released in Los Angeles earlier this year: While the figures showed a 13 percent increase in overall crime, homicides were actually down by seven percent. Unfortunately, that silver lining is now officially gone.
Law enforcement officers across Los Angeles are reeling from a recent rash of murders in the month of August and wondering what the new figures will mean for the city going forward. There were 39 killings in Los Angeles during the last month alone, compared to 22 in July and 19 in August of 2014. Overall, law enforcement now says the murder rate for the year has climbed more than 9 percent.
“It was a horrible month,” said Police Chief Charlie Beck. “Whether this is going to be a one-month issue or whether it’s going to be something that we see for the rest of the year is something we’re going to watch over closely and we’ll try to mitigate through the application of resource, through the application of public will.”
The last time the city saw a murder rate this high was back in 2007, Beck added.
Read more about L.A.’s climbing murder rate here.