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LAPD Chief: Crime Nearly Leveled Off Midway Through 2017

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Overall crime in the city of Los Angeles has risen less than one percent through the first half of the year, an improvement over the previous three years that saw more significant spikes in crime, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday.

From 2014 through 2016, violent crime rose 37.5 percent and total crime rose 21 percent.

"We think we are making progress in the city of Los Angeles,'' Beck told the Board of Police Commissioners while giving them the statistics.

Through July 1, homicides increased two percent compared to the same point last year. Rapes are down nine percent. Robberies have gone up four percent. Assaults are about even while property crime is up less than a percentage point.

If overall crime decreases by the end of the year compared to 2016, it would mark the first drop since 2014.

(©2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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