West Hollywood’s Westside saw a large increase in serious crime in January compared to the same month the year before, while incidents of crime dropped substantially in the Center City and remained relatively stable on the Eastside.
Data released by the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station in advance of tonight’s Public Safety Commission meeting showed a 28% increase in Part I crimes on the Westside, which includes the Boystown gay nightlife district. Part 1 crimes are defined as violent and property crimes. Petty theft, the theft of property worth $950 or less, accounted for the largest number of crimes, 28. That represented a 22% increase over January 2015. The biggest percentage increase was in incidents of building robberies, up 200% with six reported in January 2016 and two in January 2015.
Vehicle burglaries and incidents of grand theft (theft of property worth more than $950) were up 83% and 38% respectively. Aggravated assaults declined from seven reported last year to four reported in January 2016. The Westside was home to 49% of reported serious crimes in January.
Vehicle burglaries accounted for the one of the biggest percentage increases in crime (140%) on the city’s Eastside, with 12 incidents reported in January. Another large percentage increase, albeit with relatively few incidents, occurred in the grand theft auto category, up 400% with five incidents reported. Both residential burglaries and structure or building burglaries dropped from three incidents last year to one in January 2015. The Eastside accounted for 32% of West Hollywood’s serious crimes in January.
West Hollywood’s Center City area saw serious crime fall 34%. There were no residential burglaries, no armed robberies and no strong arm robberies compared to a January 2015 count of four, two and one respectively. Incidents of petty theft, which is responsible for the largest number of crimes citywide, totaled 11, down from 13 last year.
The Public Safety Commission meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. today in the community meeting room of the West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente south of Santa Monica.
I live on the Eastside of Weho near Fairfax, the Russian Quarter we call it. Just got my car stereo stolen, and late last year they stole my car battery. Always hearing about the muggings and gay-bashings on the rise, I bought a big ol’ knife for my boot and pepper spray for my pocket. Hope this isn’t a long-term trend. If it keeps up, I’ll just move to the Valley; no reason to pay extra rent for an area with just as much crime as the rest of L.A.
There is no area for just police calls for a variety of reasons . Twice in the past several years have had to call for prowlers in the yard…. Just because the prowlers hears you at home and prevents a crime from happening doesn’t mean there are not criminals in the area. No reports are made! Very disconcerting and fear is fear.
i guess if someone isn’t complaining, they’re not alive. how juvenile and naive to be shocked that we are not a crime free community, and somehow suggest the city is wasting money or that the sheriff’s department is incompetent.
i actually think the numbers are being suppressed and that things are worse than have been reported.
the streets are tougher and west hollywood is not insulated from all factors that make for increased community awareness.
Don, please stop being so dramatic. There is crime no matter how many law enforcement personnel are on the street. What do you expect them to do? WeHo is still a pretty safe place to be Of course the part of town with a lot of bars is going to have more crime than a part of town without them. It isn’t like there is a crime wave. Percentages make things look overblown. 200% = 4 more than last year. Our own police force would do nothing different.
Let’s keep things in perspective. There is no place without crime.
I think it’s actually 18 million a year we pay them
Our city pays 15 million a year to the LA County Sheriff Department for both preventative and reactive police services. The presence of Sheriff Deputies is VERY obvious day or night. Where is the money going? Why is crime increased? What are the priorities of our City Council, City Manager and the West Hollywood LA Sheriff Department? Does the fact that Deputies are not permanently assigned cause a lack of concern, interest or priority? All of this needs to be addressed AGAIN!!!