LOS ANGELES, Posted 9:45 p.m. October 3, 1997 -- California's crime rate continued to decline sharply during the first six months of this year and is on track for a 30 percent decline over the past four years, according to Attorney General Dan Lungren.
A report released Thursday found an 8.2 percent decline in all reported crimes during the first six months of 1997, when compared with the same period in 1996, reported CBS 2 News.
The declines during the first half of this year ranged from 18.3 percent in homicides and 14 percent in robbery down to 9.3 percent in car thefts, 8.5 percent in burglary and 2.9 percent in aggravated assaults, said The Associated Press. Among major crime categories, only rape was unchanged.
Locally, Los Angeles showed a 12.2 percent decline in violent crimes, said CBS 2 News. Overall, violent crimes in Long Beach were down 7.5 percent, but murders stood out with a 60 percent decrease. In Anaheim, violent crime dropped 4.5 percent.
"While the rest of the nation also has reduced crime rates, California continues to be one of the states leading the overall drop in crime," Lungren told AP. "However, more need to be done. I want to see California's crime rate reach the levels of the 1950's. So far we are halfway there."
He attributed the decline to increases in community policing programs, in which beat officers spend more time in the neighborhoods they cover making personal contact with residents, and tougher penalties such as the three-strikes sentencing law, said CBS 2 News.
Edited by Erik NelsonChannel 2000 Staff Writer
Report: Crime Rates Decreasing Statewide
Attorney General Reports 30 percent Drop Over Past Four Years