Crime stats
Statistics are a tricky thing. They can be manipulated and used to twist reality or they can reveal hidden trends. Depending on who you talk to that's exactly what the newly released gang crime numbers revealed.
Earlier this week LAPD Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa touted a more than 20 percent drop in gang killings across the city. That meant 40 less people have died this year than last.
It means less tears shed, funerals held and parents and children asking why.
Everyone applauds the effort but there was another number that the official press release offered little details on and that was a 14.8 percent rise in gang crime in the San Fernando Valley. Unfortunately, at the time the LAPD was reluctant to detail exactly what that rise meant.
The LA Daily News finally got those numbers and though gang-related crimes in the Valley are only a fraction of those documented in the worst parts of the cities, the cases are still rising.
Some of those figures never got into the story I wrote, just like too many crime stories never get into the paper. So, I wanted to provide them here.
Following are crimes in the San Fernando Valley and their corresponding cases in the first six months of 2007 and then 2006
homicide 19, 22
aggravated assaults 344, 289
attacks on officers 17, 7
robbery 236, 195
carjacking 21, 23
kidnapping 5, 3
shots in dwelling 6, 6
shots fired 186, 183
Just a note, the LAPD considers any crime "gang-related" if the perpetrator or the victim is a documented (via CalGangs) gang member.