For the first time in over a decade crime has risen in Los Angeles, during the first six months of 2015 crime rose by over 14 percent.
While homicide dropped by 6.7 percent, violent crime rose by 20.6 percent, this was driven by an increase in robberies and aggravated assaults, reports the Los Angeles Times.
“Let me be clear: Any uptick in crime is unacceptable,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti to reporters Wednesday.
Among other factors, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Garcetti attribute the 14.6 percent rise in crime to increased gang violence and homelessness. Crime had been on a steady decline in the city since 2003.
In his April State of the City, Garcetti focused on crime, saying he planned to double the amount of Metro officers in high-crime neighborhoods. He said their plan was not to make more arrests and in order to quell fears that these officers would be too aggressive and harm community relations, Garcetti stressed that these officers had received progressive training and would have a different mission than operations of the past.
It is unclear what effects the deployment have had so far on crime.
During the summer, all police officers working in operation are required to undergo training that involved de-escalation of force, this is to help them with “preservation of life”.
“2015 has been a very tough year for policing in American and policing in Los Angeles,” said Beck.