LOS ANGELES—On Monday, January 7, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck announced that Los Angeles has decreased its number of homicides for the third year in a row in 2012. The city went from 1,096 murders per year two decades ago to under 300. The crime reduction in the city of Los Angeles, placed it at the lowest per capita crime rate of any city over 2 million people, which is lower than Houston, Philadelphia, New York City and Chicago.

The Los Angeles Police Department

Crime reduction was attributed to the increase in police force regardless of the city’s large budget deficit. This is a continuous goal Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has maintained as his priority: to continue to hire police officers. The year Villaraigosa was elected mayor, the city had a total of 9,284 police officers. Today, the police force has a total of 10,023 officers.

Since the mayor’s election in 2005, violent crimes have dropped a total of 27.2 percent, according to the department. The number of homicides stayed under 300 for the third consecutive year. On the other hand, there was a small increase in property crimes. These were attributed to a rise in electronic device thefts such as cell phones and computers.

Beck praised the mayor’s focus on reducing gang crimes. There has been a 47.5 reduction in gang crime since Villaraigosa took office, with 152 gang homicides in 2012, which is a record-low. It’s a hope for Villaraigosa, that the next mayor elected expands the police force in the city.