Alex Brideau III on May 18, 2010, at 03:45PM – #2

Not funny, Guest #1. Not funny.

But I'm becoming concerned that there appears to be an uptick in violent crime Downtown in the last few weeks/months. Or maybe just more high profile crimes?

Robyn on May 18, 2010, at 04:19PM – #3

I agree - there is an apparent (set your clock to it) weekly shooting/stabbing within a one block radius. I miss Blake Chow's reports on LAPD stats in the Downtown area. Is there any news that LAPD or Lt. Vernon can share about this trend?

There are too many (needed) residents and business tenants in the area to just look around, whistle, and act like it's not an issue.

Don Garza on May 18, 2010, at 05:31PM – #5

Whoever this was better hope they don't run into me. Firefighters are one of the most respected people in my community and I hold a special place in my heart for them. If you want to attack a firefighter don't do it around me because I won't have any mercy on you whatsoever. Whoever this scumbag is, I hope they find him and give them what they deserve. Because if I find out who it is , by some miracle, be prepared for a big beat down. Don't make me mad , you won't like me when I am angry.

Nancy-Jean Carlson () on May 18, 2010, at 06:00PM – #7

You go Garza!!

Jamie DeFrisco on May 18, 2010, at 06:20PM – #9

Thank you Eric for sharing the PDF newsletter. It's very informative.

It does seem like crimes are getting more press, but crimes are going down according to the statistics. Considering the fact that the economy is in a bad situation and there's more people in downtown the statistics are even better. Maybe it's the influx of residents and people visiting downtown or Eric, Ed, and whoever else reports is getting more information on these type of activities.

on May 18, 2010, at 06:30PM – #10

Our police and fire departments are awesome. They really put up with a lot downtown than most neighborhoods so we really need to appreciate all that they do for us. Let us hold LAFD officer Charles Anthony MacDougall in prayer knowing that he is in perfect health and wholeness.

If you are curious about crime downtown come to the CPAB (Community Police Advisory Board) meetings that are held monthly with our police department Senior Lead Officers as well as with our new Captain Chamberlain, who was on the scene today. You'll hear how crime is actually down in our area and learn how you too can have a voice in your community. It's just that we have a large amount of people living in a small geographic area that you notice a crime like this more than in an area that is more flat and spread out.

And this had nothing to do with STAY, which is 2 doors down from the Hotel Cecil so that was really an uninformed comment Guest #1 and I happen to live across the street and don't hesitate to have any of my family or friends stay there. Please people, watch your words if you don't know what your talking about. Words can hurt. Peace and Blessings!

Don Garza on May 18, 2010, at 09:22PM – #12

I stand by what I said... Don't mess with the LAFD ,or be prepared to feel the wrath of a grateful community.

I knew posting the above would draw some anonymous poster to start talking about not proposing violence , but believe me, I am not a violent man , this stabbing was a cowardly act and cowards always want to be anonymous.

So if you are not a coward , bully , or someone who takes advantage of the weak , then you have nothing to worry about. But that person who thinks they got away with this deserves a beat down or worse. ,that person is scum , worse than scum , worse than a bottom feeder and I will express my rage at anyone who attacks the very people who save lives on a daily basis and are now under siege with a budget battle brewing at city hall . So self-righteous bs about violence begetting violence is just that BS. That person is scum , scum , scum , scum , worse than scum , and beyond scum.

This is just a case in point of why we all worked hard over the past ten years to bring law and order in this part of the community downtown. And those who fight it want to see things revert to times when things like this happened on a daily basis . Innocent people get hurt and even our first responders in this case.

I can already hear anonymous self-righteous respond by saying that if I am for law and order why this response , well, I am human and I have every right to express this. We should all be outraged, unless that is , if anonymous is the perpetrator , then of course they don't want the person to be caught .

I stand by what I say. No mercy on that scum.

Alex Brideau III on May 21, 2010, at 09:39AM – #20

Thanks, Captain Todd. I think it's just that there seem to be a lot of well-publicized incidents within a small geographic area within a brief span of time. While statistically overall crime may be down in the area, I must say the recent concentration of incidents does seem a bit startling.

Lt Paul Vernon on May 21, 2010, at 05:17PM – #21

Yes, I can give you some insight into an uptick of crime.

There are about 3 crimes more per week during this season of the year (late Spring, early Summer)than earlier in the year. I keep track of crime week to week, using prior years' totals and trends to predict what crime will be like that same week during the current year.

We deploy officers and plan operations based on these seasonal patterns.

Good news is, while crime has predictably ticked up in the last month, as it did for the last several years, last week was about 8 crimes below the same week last year.

So far this year, with 20 weeks reporting, we've seen about 14 weeks registering LESS crime this year than they did last year.

That said, three out of the last four weeks have scored more crimes than the same week last year, BUT the reality of that is, the increase comes in more CAR THEFTS. As the population of downtown has increased, we have seen the number car thefts and break ins move up, partly out of the fact there are more cars downtown, especially at night. In years past, downtown was empty of cars at night.

In the 20 weeks of the year, downtown is averaging about 61 crimes per week, compared to last year which averaged 71 crimes over the 52 weeks.

Please read another, longer comment I wrote in Eric's other article today.

Hope that helps.

Lt Paul Vernon on May 21, 2010, at 06:11PM – #22

Folks...

Re: last night's shooting. It was not a drive by shooting as some have described it.

It appears it was a dispute among a few people at 7th and Main, which escalated to a one man shooting at another man, who were both among the disputers.

We detained two persons, based on witness information (thank you very much for that). We have identified them, now we will await the victim's oppotunity see if he will idenfity his assailant.

The two men detained were NOT affiliated with the Huntington Hotel, but lived near MacArthur Park. They had walked from there to Skid Row to buy weed on San Julian (Their explanation, which we were able to partly corroborate). That does not mean they were not involved in the shooting.

And that bit of info brings another point to mind: 7th Street is a major East/West thoroughfare, and we see a pattern of crime along it just by virtue of how many people use the street. From drug deals and narco-related robberies in the east near Alameda, to a half dozen shoplifts a week at Macy's from persons who come in on the bus and train at 7th and Flower.

We did an experiment three weeks ago, after noticing this pattern, and we hit crime along 7th quite hard, including having motor officers ride more frequently there and putting footbeats near Macy's so people see cops and think twice about stealing. That week saw ONE crime on 7th!!! The next week, only a couple. Sometimes, just doing something different causes crooks to notice, which makes them leery and they go somewhere else, or we arrest the one or two responsible for the 8 or 10 crimes. It's not a perfect science; a little art, a little imagination, and a little luck all play a part.

We have so few shootings downtown, by comparison to all other areas of the city, we are willing to call out our homicide dets to start working the shooting scenes immediately, even if the victim is not going to die. Immediate investigation aids in us solving the crimes more often. We can do that because our shootings and homicides are otherwise quite low and we have the time to use these seasoned investigators for this purpose, as we did last night. Other areas of the city cannot do this because their homicide dets would never get to sleep or have a day off.

The patrol officers last night did a great job getting to the scene quickly and detaining the two persons they did.

Yes, the Huntington Hotel is one of our downtown crime challenges, but we (the PD) have to operate within the rules in interdicting these locations thru arrests, abatements with the City Atty, etc. The HH is a location the PD works daily in one fashion or another.

Sometimes it only takes one or two new individuals to show up at the HH to see an increase in activity. Such people don't want to be seen, so sometimes it takes an incident(s) like this for them to show their faces.

We will be looking at HH closely and giving special attention to the HH over the next couple weeks to figure out the influence that's caused or attracted this trend we've seen over the last couple nights.

We'll let you know what turns up.