L.A. crime rate continues decline

Violent crime in Los Angeles fell for the fourth straight year in 2006, bucking a national trend and putting the city on track this year to have its lowest murder rate since 1970. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Violent crime fell by 4 percent in L.A. last year, while nationwide it crept up 2 percent, according to figures released Monday by the FBI.

And so far this year, the city has recorded just 293 homicides, a staggering drop from five years ago, when 656 killings prompted Chief William Bratton, who had just been appointed to head the Los Angeles Police Department, to vow a crackdown on violence.