False Premise, False Promise

A REPORT BY THE ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
www.aclu-sc.org
MAY 1997
CONTENTS
Section I: Introduction and Study Design .......................................................................................... 1 Section II: Review of Violent Crime, Calls for Service and Felony Drug Arrests in 19 LAPD Reporting Districts ................................................... 7 Section III: Discussion and Conclusions ............................................................................................ 36
A REPORT BY THE ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MAY 1997

1616 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90026 213. 977. 9500 www.aclu-sc.org
SECTION I
Introduction and Description of Study Design
IN DECEMBER, 1987, THE LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEYS OFFICE introduced what it characterized as a powerful new weapon in the fight against gang violence. This weapon was the court injunction issued against named alleged members of the Playboy Gangster Crips gang operating in the Cadillac-Corning neighborhood of West Los Angeles. The injunction barred them from congregating together, talking on the street, littering or remaining in public for more than five minutes at a time. In a statement to the media at the time, City Attorney James K. Hahn lauded the court action as the nations first legal offensive against a street gang, and vowed: We intend to use the prohibition against harassing citizens to give law-abiding residents...some much-needed relief against these gang members. (United Press International, Dec. 11, 1987.) Since the Playboy Gangster Crips case was filed nearly 10 years ago, the injunction tactic has received increasing attention and has been hailed as a quick, reliable way to rescue neighborhoods from the grip of criminal street gangs and the terror of gang-related violent crime. By early 1996, gang injunctions had developed such broad appeal that Gov. Pete Wilson included in his budget for submission to the Legislature a proposal to set up a $2.5 million Gang Civil Injunction Fund. The stated purpose was to provide grants to local prosecutors and underwrite the costs of obtaining and enforcing additional injunctions against threatening or intimidating gang activities. (Office of the Governor, Governors Budget Summary, Jan. 10, 1996, State and Local Alliance for Public Safety, page 2.) The Playboy Gangster Crips case received high levels of media and public attention and the injunction tactic has since been described, in a 1997 U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance monograph (Urban Street Gang Enforcement, January, 1997, page 100), as a concept pioneered in Los Angeles. However, it was not until 1993 that the City Attorney moved to obtain what was thenand may still bethe most heavily promoted gang injunction ever sought. On Feb. 22, 1993, the City Attorneys Office filed for an injunction (People v. Blythe Street Gang, Los Angeles County Superior Court, LC020525) against as many as 500 members of the Blythe Street Gang, a Latino street gang. The court filing charged that the gang had transformed a quiet Panorama City neighborhood into an occupation zone in which innocent residents were held captive in their own apartments by violent criminal predators and victimized if they went outside their homes. In a media statement at the time, City Atty. Hahn said: The Blythe Street neighborhood is under occupation by an organized group of criminals involved in everything from drug trafficking to murder. This is a gang of brutal outlaws. (Reuters North American Wire, Feb. 22, 1993.) Civil libertarians and constitutional law experts argued unsuccessfully at the time that the injunction should be denied. Organizationsincluding the American Civil Liberties Unionthat opposed the tactic contended that it would lead to cases of mistaken identity and that the court order sought by the city would, in effect, outlaw otherwise legal activity, such as carrying on conversations, visiting with friends or possessing tools like screw drivers and pocket knives whose use is not, per se, a crime. Opponents contended that existing laws and law enforcement techniques could be better used to counter the criminal actions of the Blythe Street Gang. But these arguments did not prevail, in part because of a political climate that had evolved out of understandable desperation. It reflected a desire to abateeven at the expense of fundamental constitutional rightsthe perceived reign
False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls 1 May 1997
of criminal terror inflicted on many urban neighborhoods by street gangs. This drive to embrace increasingly extreme tactics in the war against gangs has occurred despite cautionary urgings by many academic and professional research experts. By early 1997, injunctions had been issued or were being sought in just under a dozen California cities (New York Times, Feb. 1, 1997). These locales included San Jose, Burbank, Los Angeles, Westminster, Pasadena and Redondo Beach. The Los Angeles County District Attorney has sought actively to encourage the filing of additional gang injunctions throughout the region. The office operates a unit called SAGE (Strategy Against Gang Environment) that, according to its official description, is aimed at taking back Los Angeles streets from gangs and the accompanying problems of drugs and violence. The description continues: Key to SAGEs success are civil injunctions (court orders) which drastically reduce drug dealing, violence, graffiti and loitering. (Worldwide Web page, Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, Bureau of Crime Prevention, May 26, 1997.) The gang injunction tactic is an important component of the so-called suppression model of gang enforcement. In evaluating this increasingly popular model, the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention concluded in October, 1994, that: Although it is possible that relying solely on suppression may stop gang violence in smaller cities or those with emerging gang problems (usually accompanied by an increase in gang-related drug trafficking), researchers have discovered little evidence that relying primarily on suppression has reduced the gang problem in large cities such as Los Angeles. (Gang Suppression and Intervention: Problem and Response, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, October, 1994, page 8.) The new reliance on suppression, this analysis concluded, is the product of a trend in criminal justice and urban policy that has emerged over the last 25 years: A new strategy, suppression, appears to have emerged in the 1970s and 1980s and remains prevalent today. The dominance of a suppression strategy can be related to several factors: the decline of local community and youth outreach efforts, at least with respect to the youth gang problem; the insufficiency of opportunity provision approaches to target or modify gang structures; the changing structure of a labor market that can no longer adequately absorb unskilled and poorly educated older youth gang members; and the consequent increased criminalization and sophistication of youth gangs. (Gang Suppression and Intervention, page 7.) Within months after it was issued, the Blythe Street gang injunction became the most prominent and visible symbol of the growing fascination with issuing court orders to ban gang behavior. In 1997, the California Supreme Court upheld the tactic in a decision in which the court appeared to conclude that the certainty of relief from gang violence in confined neighborhoods, which gang injunctions supposedly afford, justifies what the court acknowledged was a limitation on individual liberties. The case involved a challenge to a gang injunction issued in the San Jose neighborhood of Rocksprings, described in court documents in language familiar to observers of gang injunction litigation as an urban war zone. In People ex rel. Gallo v Carlos Acuna (97 Cal. Daily Op. Service 724) the court held that: Liberty unrestrained is an invitation to anarchy. Freedom and responsibility are joined at the hip. The state has not only a right to maintain a decent society, but an obligation to do so. In the public nuisance context, the communitys right to security and protection must be reconciled with the individuals right to expressive and associative freedom. Reconciliation begins with the acknowledgment that the interests of the community are not invariably less important than the freedom of individuals. Indeed, the security and protection of the community is the bedrock on which the superstructure of individual liberty rests. From Montesquieu to Locke to Madison, the description of the pivotal compact remains unchanged: by entering society, individuals give up the unrestrained right to act as they think fit; in return, each has a positive right to societys protection. But despite the 10-year evolution of the gang injunction as an accepted tactic to neutralize the threat of community violence, fewif anystudies have tested the claims made for injunctions as a strict question of whether they achieve reductions in crime and violence in the neighborhoods in which they are issued. Also at issue is the question of whether gang injunctions have unintended or unanticipated consequences in neighborhoods and communities surrounding those affected by these court orders.
MOST RECENTLY, the injunction tactic has been utilized in a South Los Angeles neighborhood near Culver City in a court filing against members of the 18th Street Gang. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge is expected to decide by early July whether to issue an injunction similar to the Blythe Street order that would take in a small neighborhood bounded by Hauser Boulevard, Jefferson Boulevard, Alsace Avenue and Westhaven Street. The order sought names of 150 alleged members of the 18th Street Gang as defendants. (News Release, Office of City Attorney Jim Hahn, March 22, 1997.) These injunctions raise several questions concerning the limiting of fundamental civil rights and traditional American civil liberties in the name of achieving an improvement in public safety: 1) Do gang injunctions achieve the claimed benefits in quantifiable ways? 2) Does crime drop in neighborhoods specified in the injunctions? 3) What happens to crime and other evidence of gang violence in areas immediately surrounding injunction zones? 4) Does criminal activity simply relocate from an injunction area to other nearby neighborhoods?
DESIGN OF THIS STUDY

The Blythe Street gang injunction was chosen for review in this study for three principal reasons: 1) The injunction was sought and issued under circumstances that attracted enormous public attention. The debate over the injunction in 1993 centered on whether an extreme measure that, in effect, criminalized otherwise lawful conduct could be justified by the need to bring peace to a neighborhood wracked by gang crime and violence. So great was the public prominence of the Blythe Street gang injunction that it remains symbolic of the injunction tactic wherever it is used. 2) The Blythe Street injunction was issued more than four years agoa window of time large enough to have established its influence on crime and associated patterns both before and after the injunction. 3) The area covered by the Blythe Street injunction is the exclusive territory of a single police department that employs a logical and consistent system of activities reporting. For the purposes of providing service by the Los Angeles Police Department, the City of Los Angeles is divided into 18 geographic areas, commonly called divisions. To facilitate statistical tracking of crime patterns, police service and related variables, each of these 18 divisions is, in turn, made up of between 75 and 125 reporting districts (RDs), each of which generally comprises a confined area as small as a few square blocks. In 1993, the LAPD command staff instructed each of the 18 division commands to perform an analysis of violent crime patterns in its territory and to submit written planning documents detailing ways to address these perceived crime patterns. Most of the 18 divisions identified Reporting Districts that were beset by high levels of: reported violent crime (specifically homicide, rape/attempt rape, robbery and aggravated assault); calls requesting police service; and felony drug arrests. In the two police divisions responsible for the area surrounding the Blythe Street neighborhood, these reports were entitled: LAPD Van Nuys Area Violent Crime Analysis, dated Dec. 9, 1993, and Violent Crime Locations, a memorandum from the Commanding Officer, Devonshire Area, dated Dec. 20, 1993. Also consulted for this analysis was another memorandum report, 1994 Violent Crime Operations Plans, prepared by the Commanding Officer, Foothill Area, dated Dec. 22, 1993. The selection of criteria for analysis by which these LAPD internal reports were standardized provides a sensible variety of indices: The volume of violent crime in an area has an obvious, direct bearing on both the perceived and actual safety of an individual neighborhood. The volume of calls for police service provides a different sense of the atmosphere of a community, permitting a simplistic form of tracking the degree to which residents believe they require public safety services. The number of felony drug arrests provides a perspective on the degree to which drug trafficking has permeated the community.
False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls
May 1997
Los Angeles Police Department: 19 reporting districts surrounding Blythe Street, January, 1993, through May, 1997 Source: Planning & Research Division, Los Angeles Police Department
May 1997
In the San Fernando Valley, the Van Nuys and Devonshire Divisions of the LAPD both elected to identify small numbers of Reporting Districts10 in Van Nuys Division, four in Devonshirethat were beset by abnormally high levels of violent crime and the perceived risk of violent crime. The area of Blythe Street that is most specifically covered by the injunction filed for on Feb. 22, 1993, and issued on April 7, 1993, falls entirely within RD 925. At least two additional short thoroughfares also called Blythe Street exist nearby, but outside of, RD 925. Although the 1993 injunction nominally took in an area of 112 square blocks between Van Nuys and Sepulveda Boulevards, it focused primarily on an area divided roughly in half by a two-block section of Blythe Street, from Van Nuys Boulevard to Brimfield Avenue. The greatest focus of attention in the injunctionand the locale of its most stringent sanctionswas an area within RD 925bounded by Van Nuys Boulevard on the east, Kester Avenue on the west, Arminta Street on the south and Strathern Street on the north. It was from this area that gang members covered by the injunction were barred entirely unless they could provide documentary proof of residency in the neighborhood. From the date the court order was issued until the present, the Blythe Street gang injunction has been most associated with this two square block area within RD 925 described in the injunction issued by Superior Court Judge John A. Major. To examine patterns in crime rates, call-for-service volumes and numbers of felony drug arrests as the key indices of overall community crime patterns, this study analyzes these three indices for RD 925 and 18 other RDs that surround it. Sixteen of these Reporting Districts are in Van Nuys Division; three are in Devonshire Division.
SINCE 1993, the LAPD has undergone a period of rapid expansion in its officer strength. This has permitted addition of new patrol territories, a factor that, combined with normal, periodic readjustment of police division boundaries, has resulted in the alteration of many reporting districts throughout the city. The districts analyzed for this report have remained consistent in their boundaries throughout the last six years, with the exception of RD 949. In 1995, changes were made in the territory covered by Van Nuys Division. The division was reduced in geographic size and several of the reporting districts previously assigned to it were shifted to neighboring divisions. The RD numbers for several districts within Van Nuys Division were also changed. However, with the exception of RD 949, there were no other boundary or numbering changes in the zone of districts that has RD 925 as its hub and which is the focus of this study. In January, 1995, RD 949 was removed from Van Nuys Division and its territory was divided among three districts in North Hollywood Division, directly to the east. This removal and fragmentation of RD 949 makes impossible statistical comparisons of crime, calls for service or felony drug arrests for the period 1995 and 1996. However, data for these variables were retained by the LAPD and were made available in toto for the period 1991 through 1994. The Reporting Districts chosen for examination in this study meet one or both of two criteria:
1) They are among the RDs identified in the 1993 Van Nuys and Devonshire violent crime analyses as the most crime-ridden districts in each division. All 10 of these most crime-ridden RDs identified in Van Nuys Division, including RD 925 (Blythe Street itself), and two of four identified by the report for Devonshire Division are in the immediate vicinity of the intersection of Blythe Street and Van Nuys Boulevard. In Van Nuys Division, the 10 most crime-ridden RDs were identified as: 909, 918, 925, 936, 944, 946, 949, 955, 956 and 957. All of them are included in this study, despite the 1995 reassignment of territory previously occupied by RD 949. In Devonshire Division, the two RDs that were both in close geographic proximity to Blythe Street and among the most crime-ridden identified by police are: 1798 and 1799. 2) They are RDs which are either immediately adjacent or in very close physical proximity to RD 925, although they may not have been on the list of the most heavily plagued by violent crime compiled by the two police divisions. RDs exclusively in this category are 917, 919, 923, 924, 926 and 937 in Van Nuys Division and 1796 in Devonshire Division. Three reporting districts925, 918 and 936fall within both categories.
The districts also fall heavily along the Sepulveda Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard corridors. The Sepulveda Corridor, which straddles Devonshire and Van Nuys divisions, was identified as an area with especially high levels of prostitution, drug trafficking and gang crime in the Devonshire Area 1993 violent crime analysis and was also identified as a special problem area in the Van Nuys Division analysis. The Van Nuys Corridor falls entirely within Van Nuys Division. RDs 1798 and 1799 in Devonshire Division both have Sepulveda Boulevard as one of their boundaries. Nine of the 10 most crime-ridden RDs in Van Nuys Division have either Sepulveda Boulevard or Van Nuys Boulevard as one of their boundaries. The Van Nuys analysis concluded that 27 percent of the total crime in the division involves either the Sepulveda or Van Nuys corridor.
IN MARCH 1997, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California filed a request under the California Public Records Act with the LAPD seeking data for the 19 Reporting Districts in question for the six-year period from 1991 through 1996. A twentieth Reporting District, RD 1797 in Devonshire Division, was also included in the request. It was subsequently dropped from this study because its territory is made up almost entirely of a property housing a large Anheuser-Busch brewery and a right-of-way of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Because of this land-use combination, almost no criminal activity was reported in RD 1797 and it was deemed not relevant to this study. The data sought for review from the LAPD were monthly totals of homicides; rapes/attempt rapes; robberies; aggravated assaults; total calls for police service, and numbers of felony drug arrests. This request was subsequently amended informally to include department-wide LAPD data on these same indices and for current maps showing the locations of all Reporting Districts in Van Nuys and Devonshire Divisions. The 1997 maps were compared with maps prepared in 1987 to verify that territories covered by involved RDs had remained consistent for the past decade. The materials sought were supplied by the LAPD Office of the Chief, Office of Administrative Services, Information Resources Division and Planning & Research Division (Cartography and Visual Aids Unit). Additional data on national and statewide rates of reported serious crime were obtained via the Internet from websites operated by the U.S. Department of Justice National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). These serious crime categories are broader than the violent crime components reviewed by the LAPD and presented in this analysis. So-called FBI Part I crimes are homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson. These data from the LAPD and the NCJRS were entered and analyzed in Microsoft Excel. Because RD 949 was a part of Van Nuys Division for the entire period covered by these charts, it retains that identity in this document, despite the fact that it was moved out of Van Nuys Division in 1995. To enhance clarity, charts showing numbers of reported violent crimes, calls for police service and numbers of felony drug arrests cover the period April, 1992, through either December, 1994, or March, 1995. LAPD maps for Van Nuys and Devonshire Divisions were consolidated and edited for clarity in Corel PhotoPaint. The basic cartographic renderings of reporting districts have not been altered from the form in which they were provided by the department. Data were entered into a series of master files to permit examination of trends in all violent crime and individual offenses including aggravated assault, robbery, rape/attempted rape and homicide, as well as calls for police service and felony drug arrests. The analysis begins at the reporting district level and attempts to identify trends in crime, police call volume and drug arrests before and for at least 18 months after the issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction. Supplementing the basic reporting district data files, an area of more than 20 square miles in the Panorama City vicinity was mapped, based on LAPD division maps that show the exact boundaries of reporting districts. The reporting district data were analyzed in a fashion that permitted identification of any districts near RD 925 that showed evidence of abrupt increases or decreases in crime, calls for service and felony drug arrests. Next, the data files were merged to provide collective data for the entire 19-reporting district area and the same comparisons were made for total violent crime, specific violent crimes, call volume and felony drug arrests. Finally, the individual reporting district analysis files, files created to recognize clusters of reporting districts that experienced sharp increases in crime immediately after the injunction was issued and files for the 19-reporting district as a whole were compared to citywide data for crime and calls for service that were provided separately by the LAPD.
May 1997
SECTION II
Review of Violent Crime, Calls for Service and Felony Drug Arrests in 19 LAPD Reporting Districts
THE AREA REVIEWED FOR THIS STUDY INCLUDES 19 LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT reporting districts in the Panorama City area of the San Fernando Valley, approximately 15 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The area occupied by these 19 districts is irregularly shaped, but covers a maximum north-south distance of approximately 5 miles and a maximum east-west distance of approximately four miles. Its northernmost tip terminates at Lassen Street, where Woodman Avenue and the Pacoima Wash flood control channel converge. The 19-district zones easternmost boundary is Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Its westernmost boundary is Woodley Avenue and its southernmost boundary is the Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way that runs east-west south of Victory Boulevard and north of Burbank Boulevard. The areas main north-south thoroughfares are the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405), Sepulveda Boulevard, Van Nuys Boulevard, Woodley Avenue, Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Woodman Avenue. Its principal east-west streets are Nordhoff Street, Roscoe Boulevard, Vanowen Street, Sherman Way and Victory Boulevard. Figure 3-x in Section III of this report shows that there was a citywide, one-month decline in violent crime recorded in February, 1993, the same month that court papers seeking the Blythe Street gang injunction were filed.
REPORTING DISTRICT 925

The district most directly affected by the April, 1993, injunction issued against members of the Blythe Street Gang is RD 925. It is bounded by Roscoe Boulevard on the north, Van Nuys Boulevard on the East, the Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the south and Brimfield Avenue on the west. It is one of the 10 most violent RDs in Van Nuys Division, according to the areas 1993 violent crime analysis. Violent crime rose sharply in RD 925 between April and July, 1993, dropped between July and August, then rose again in two of the following three months. Violent crime in RD 925 did not reach levels as low as those recorded in April, 1993, for two consecutive months or more until January, 1994. Aggravated assault fluctuated more sporadically in RD 925 in the period, but accelerated sharply in July, 1993, and then rose continuously from August through October of that year. Although violent crime showed some fluctuation in RD 925 in 1995 and 1996, LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not included on these charts showed that the numbers of violent crime incidents in RD 925 were above levels recorded in April, 1993, through the end of 1996. Because numbers of violent crimes in any individual reporting district are comparatively small in any single month, these reported crime incidents show fluctuation through 1995 and 1996
May 1997
similar to that seen in these charts. In February, 1996, there were 14 violent crimes reported in the district, and in August, 1996, there were 15 such crimes. There were 132 violent crimes in the district in all of 1995 and 117 in all of 1996. There had previously been 180 violent crimes in RD 925 in 1991, 155 in 1992, 160 in 1993 and 125 in 1994.
Figure 2-1: Violent Crime, RD 925

45 40 35 30 25 20 13 15 10 5 4 0 0 Apr-92 9 9 3 0 May 7 1 0 June 12 9 10 10 3 1 0 July 3 0 August 10 1 0 Sep. 3 0 1 Oct. 17 14 15 13 11 18 10 10 11 6 4 0 Nov. 6 8 1 1 0 Dec. 8 0 1 Jan. 93 3 3 0 Feb. 9 5 4 0 Mar. 10 7 8 2 0 Apr. 6 0 May 4 0 June 15 8 6 1 0 July 11 12 5 1 0 Aug. 1 0 Sep. 5 0 Oct. 12 7 4 3 0 Nov. 6 8 0 Dec. 4 4 2 0 Jan.94 13 13 22 20 19 17 17 14 10
Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide
18 16 13 13 11 9 7 1 1 0 Feb. 4 3 1 0 Mar. 8 3 0 Apr. 8 6 2 0 May 6 7 0 June 11 11 1 1 0 July 5 0 Aug. 9 4 0 Sep 13 12 5 6 1 0 Oct. 4 1 3 0 Nov. 12 10 12 9 3 0 Dec. 6 5 1 0 Jan. 95 9 0 1 0 Feb. 4 2 0 March
Calls for police service showed a sharp increase between March and May, 1993, before beginning a sporadic decline. However, calls for service did not equal the low number for March, 1993, until January, 1994. Throughout the eight months after the injunction was issued, calls for service in RD 925 remained at levels consistently higher than before city officials sought the court order.
Figure 2-2: Calls for Service, RD 925
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec Dec Jun Jul May May 1992 Apl May Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
May 1997
The monthly felony drug arrest totals in RD 925 are not large enough to draw absolute conclusions. However, it is clear that there was no sustained reduction in felony drug arrests in this area after April, 1993. The general pattern has been for the monthly arrest totals to fluctuate between two and 15, and there was no change in this pattern after April, 1993. There were three felony drug arrests in February, 1993, and two in March. The number fell to zero in May, 1993, but rose to nine arrests in August and 11 in October.
Figure 2-3: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 925

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Mar Feb Mar Feb Jun Jun May May May Jun Jul Sep Sep Nov
26 20 21 23 19 17 8 4 0 Apr. 4 1 1 May 6 1 0 June 8 0 July 12 8 0 Aug. 12 8 3 1 0 Sep. 13 16 16 13 14 13 0 0 1 0 Nov. Dec. Oct. 6 2 0 Jan.94 9 0 Feb. 25 8 12 10 2 1 0 Mar. Apr. 22 21 9 0 May 27 28 31 32 19 22 0 1 Nov. 11 1 0 Dec. 13 24 14 20 7 0 Jan. 95 5 1 0 Feb. 15 0 March 21 15
Sep
Nov
Nov
Dec
Dec
1992 Apr
Aug

RD 909 is a roughly triangular district bounded by Woodman Avenue on the east, Osborne and Rayen Streets on the south and the Pacoima Wash flood control channel on the west. It is one of 10 RDs with the highest rates of violent crime in all of Van Nuys Division, according to the areas 1993 violent crime analysis. RD 909 did not experience the citywide decline in violent crime in February, 1993. Rates of violent crime had begun rising in RD 909 in December, 1992. The numbers reached a temporary high in April, then dropped in the district from then until September, but rose sharply afterward, fluctuating at levels close to or just below the April, 1993, level until April, 1994. Violent crime incidents surged upward again in the summer of 1994. Violent crime incidents declined slowlybut steadilyin 1995 and 1996, according to LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not shown on these charts. However, as late as May and June, 1996, there were 29 violent crimes reported in the district in each of those two months. In 1995, there were 34 violent crimes in June and 33 in October. There were 307 violent crimes in the district in 1995 and 261 in 1996.
Aug
Total Agg. Aslt. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 23 30 17 20 10 9 17 10 6 0 May 5 0 June 9 1 2 July 15 23 17 14 17 9 0 1 Oct. 35 29 24 21 17 18 8 1 0 Dec. 8 0 1 Jan. 93 19 21 21 31 27 26 27 36 33 Robbery Rape Homicide
47 39 34 29 26 25 20 30 27 24 34 35 30 32 42 43 36 36 30
13 8 0 Nov.
7 0 0 1 Apr-92
12 10 0 0 Sep. August
10 13 1 2 1 0 Feb. Mar.
10 13 14 10 12 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 June Sep July Aug. Oct.
Aug
May 1997
Dec
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
Calls for police service rose sharply between February and April, 1993 and fluctuated near or above the April level until October, 1994. By December, 1994, the call for service rate had declined significantly, but remained at a level higher than that recorded immediately before the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued.
Figure 2-5: Calls for Service, RD 909 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Mar Mar Feb Feb Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Dec Dec 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec
Dec
Nov
Nov
The number of felony drug arrests in RD 909 has historically been between approximately zero and six per month. The pattern of approximately four arrests per month continued after the April, 1993 injunction. Furthermore, the 11 arrests in July, 1994 was the highest monthly total for RD 909 during the span of the study.

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Dec Dec Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Nov Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Nov Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
10
May 1997
Nov
Oct
Oct
Oct
Apl
Apl

RD 1796 is bounded by Woodley Avenue on the west, Parthenia Street on the north, the San Diego Freeway on the east and Roscoe Boulevard on the south. It also borders RD 1798, one of the most violent crime-prone districts in Devonshire Division. RD 1796 has comparatively low rates of violent crime, when measured against the 12 districts included in this study that have been identified as especially crime prone by the LAPD. Although the numbers of crimes recorded in RD 1796 are so small as to make monthly statistical comparisons misleading, crime recorded a peak in September, 1992, and had been decreasing sporadically in the months prior to issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction in April, 1993. Crime rose immediately after the injunction was issued and see-sawed in the following months, although the number of crimes reported in any one month in RD 1796 never exceeded six. This same pattern continued through 1995 and 1996 in LAPD figures analyzed for this report, but not shown in these charts. With the exception of the single month of July, 1996, when 10 violent crimes were reported in RD 1796, the district continued to show the same sporadic patterns seen in this chart. There were 24 violent crimes in the district in 1995 and 29 in 1996.
30

25 15 20
15 9 10 5 5 2 2 1 0 0 Apr-92 8 2 1 1 0 May 2 2 0 June 1 0 July 4 3 0 August 3 0 Sep. 4 6 3 1 0 Oct. 1 0 Nov. 3 1 2 0 Dec. 3 1 2 0 Jan. 93 6 1 0 Feb. 0 Mar. 1 0 1 0 Apr. 3 3 0 May 2 3 0 June 3 2 0 July 1 1 0 Aug. 2 1 1 0 Sep. 3 1 1 0 Oct. 0 Nov. 1 1 0 Dec. 2 0 Jan.94 3 2 0 2 0 Feb. 2 1 0 Mar. 2 0 2 0 Apr. 1 1 0 May 2 1 1 0 June 4 1 0 July 1 1 0 3 Aug. 5 1 1 0 Sep 1 0 Oct. 2 1 1 0 Nov. 2 1 1 0 Dec. 2 1 1 0 March 7 12 5 5 5 5 5 7 7 6
0 Jan. 95
0 Feb.
Calls for service in RD 1796 coincide with the irregular high point of violent crime in the district in the second half of 1992. Calls for service then declined beginning in August, 1992 and continued at a rate generally slightly below 40 per month throughout the rest of the period.
160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Dec Dec 1992 Apl May May May Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
11
May 1997
Felony drug arrests in RD 1796 have been sporadic. The monthly totals often remain at zero for several months, and during the course of the study never went above five. This pattern remained consistent after the April 1993 injunction; however, it is impossible to draw any generalizations from such small monthly totals.
5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May Dec Sep May Dec Sep Jun Jul May Aug 1992 Apr Aug Aug Dec
March
Sep
Nov
Nov

RD 1798, one of the highest crime areas in Devonshire Division, is bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the west, Nordhoff Street on the north, Sepulveda Boulevard on the east and Roscoe Boulevard on the south. It immediately adjoins RD 1799, another of the highest-crime districts in either Devonshire or Van Nuys Divisions. RD 1798 experienced a decline in violent crime in February, 1993, similar to that recorded citywide. However, beginning in April, 1993, the district recorded extremely sharp increases in each of the next two months. Numbers of violent crimes committed in the district remained at levels significantly higher than in the month the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued until January, 1994. A brief period of decline halted in April, 1994 and rates again rose and remained high. LAPD figures reviewed for this analysis but not shown on these charts show that violent crime in RD 1798 declined gradually in 1995 and 1996, but that 20 or more violent crimes were committed in the district in five of these 24 months. In only two of these months were there fewer than 10 violent crimesthe number reported in April, 1993. There were 209 violent crimes in the district in 1995 and 168 in 1996.
Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery
70 60 50 30 40 30 20 14 10 10 0 0 1 Apr-92 25 21 20 20 13 12 14 8 0 May 8 0 June 6 0 July 15 9 0 1 August 25 21 21 17 17 13 13 23 18 10 6 3 1 0 Apr. 19 15 9 9 1 0 May 15 0 June 16 4 1 2 July 13 17 14 11 15 12 1 0 Aug. 2 1 0 Sep. 5 0 Oct. 5 1 0 Nov. 5 0 Dec. 23 26 20 19 20 17
Rape Homicide 32 22 21 17 15
21 13 12 8 5 0 Jan.94 7 4 1 0 Feb.
13 17 12 12 10 11 8 4 5 7 10 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jan. 93 Feb. Mar. Sep. Dec. Nov. Oct.
17 16 15 22 13 14 16 10 12 11 11 11 11 12 7 11 10 6 7 6 6 5 2 2 7 10 9 6 4 2 5 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jan. 95 June Aug. Dec. Nov. Feb. Mar. May Sep July Apr. Oct.
19
20
12
May 1997
Nov
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
LAPD call for service data for RD 1798 are inexplicably incomplete for the period April through July, 1992. The call volume shows a marked increase, however, in the period beginning in February, 1993, when city officials filed for the Blythe Street gang injunction. Rates declined in September, 1993, and were sporadically higher or lower throughout the rest of the period.

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Mar 1992 Apl Mar Feb Feb Jun Jun Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Dec Dec May May May Aug Aug Aug Dec
Sep
Nov
Nov
Monthly felony drug arrest totals for RD 1798 show a pronounced increase after April, 1993. This area had monthly arrest totals of between approximately five and 20 in the months leading up to the injunction. The first month after the injunction was issued, the drug arrest total jumped to 32. This increase, while fluctuating, has been sustained in RD 1798 since the April 1993 injunction. The number of arrests was 32 in July, 1993 and 30 in March, 1994.

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Jun Jul Sep Sep Dec Dec Nov Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
Nov
Oct
Oct
Oct
Apl
Apl
13
May 1997

RD 1799 is bounded by Sepulveda Boulevard on the west, the Pacoima Wash flood control channel on the east, Nordhoff Street on the north and Roscoe Boulevard on the south. It is between RDs 1798 and 917. It is one of the RDs identified as among the most violent crime-ridden districts in Devonshire Division in the 1993 LAPD review. The southeast corner of RD 1799 abuts RD 925. Violent crime had declined in RD 1799 in February, 1993, mirroring the citywide trend. However, immediately after April, 1993, when the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued, these rates increased to levels that remained consistently higher than before the injunction was issued throughout nearly all of the rest of the period shown on this chart. Aggravated assault consistently remained above April, 1993, levels. In LAPD figures reviewed for this analysis but not charted here, violent crimes occurred at the rate of 20 or more per month in all but three months of 1995 and 1996. There were 30 or more violent crimes in this district in seven of those 24 months and a high of 44 violent crimes in September, 1996, a month in which there were also 31 aggravated assaults. There were 321 violent crimes in the district in 1995 and 317 in 1996.
Total A gg. A slt. 90 80 70 43 60 50 34 40 30 20 10 21 16 3 1 0 May 20 17 18 5 11 1 0 June 10 0 1 July 8 0 August 35 19 8 1 0 Sep. 21 16 5 2 0 Oct. 10 1 0 Nov. 12 7 1 0 Dec. 12 2 0 Jan. 93 29 28 23 20 18 15 7 1 0 Feb. 11 9 0 1 Mar. 10 12 1 0 Apr. 23 21 23 Robbery Rape Homicide
Figure 2-13: Viole nt Crim e , RD 1799
40 28 32 32 32 32 27 17 24 19 7 1 0 May 1 June 18 19 6 13 1 0 July 8 0 Aug. 12 0 1 Sep. 9 0 Oct. 7 2 2 Nov. 19 15 14 9 5 1 0 Dec. 10 7 0 Jan.94 8 1 0 Feb. 15 32 28 25 17 16 12 4 1 Mar. 10 1 Apr. 25 18 12 17 6 1 0 May 17 6 1 0 June 11 0 2 July 7 2 0 Aug. 16 0 Sep 24 24 24 24 24 26 18 9 1 0 Oct. 22 14 8 1 0 Nov. 6 2 0 Dec. 12 12 7 1 0 Jan. 95 0 3 Feb. 8 1 0 March 25 22 20 16 16 37 35 31 31
11 0 1 Apr-92
The volume of calls for police service rose sharply beginning in February, 1993, and did not return to pre-Blythe Street injunction levels until November, 1994. Call volume rose again beginning in January, 1994, and remained at preinjunction levels throughout the rest of the period shown on this chart.
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Mar Feb Mar Feb Jun Jun May May May Jun Jul Sep Sep Nov Nov Sep Nov 1992 Apl Dec Dec Aug Aug Aug Dec Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
14
May 1997
RD 1799 had the clearest change of any district in the zone studied here in monthly felony drug arrests after April, 1993. The monthly totals, prior to the injunction, went as high as 20 only once, in October, 1992. More commonly, monthly arrests remained at or below 10. Immediately after the injunction was issued, the monthly arrest totals began a steady climb, reaching 26 in May, 1993, and 27 in October, 1993. While there have been some months with slightly reduced totals, the pattern after the injunction has been a steady increase. The total of drug arrests in October, 1994, was 32 and 34 in November, 1994.
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Jun Jul Dec Dec Sep Sep Nov Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec
12 8 9 2 0 Jan. 95 9 2 1 0 Feb. 7 1 0 March
Sep

RD 917 is bounded by Rayem Street on the north, Cedros Avenue on the east, Roscoe Boulevard on the south and the Pacoima Wash flood control channel on the west. It is immediately east of RD 1799 in Devonshire Division. Although RD 917 is not among the Van Nuys Division top 10 violent crime districts, it is surrounded by RDs in Van Nuys and Devonshire Divisions identified as among the most violent crime ridden. It borders RD 925. Violent crime incidents hit a low for the period reviewed here in December, 1992, and January, 1993, before beginning a largely steady rise that, with some fluctuation, occurred continuously until December, 1994. In only two of the 12 months following issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction were the numbers of reported violent crime in RD 917 lower than in the month the injunction was issued. In LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not shown on these charts, violent crime in RD 917 showed a resurgence beginning in June, 1995, and remained at increased levels through September, 1996. In April, 1996, 25 violent crimes were committed in the district. More than 20 violent crimes occurred there during July and September, 1995, as well. In all of 1995, there were 155 violent crimes in RD 917 and 166 in 1996.
Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 8 3 0 0 Apr-92 11 11 2 0 May 13 11 14 19 11 5 7 0 July 4 0 August 4 2 0 Sep. 13 2 0 1 Oct. 11 7 8 3 0 Nov. 4 2 2 0 Dec. 4 2 2 0 Jan. 93 5 2 0 Feb. 10 2 0 Mar. 21 19 16 12 8 4 4 0 Apr. 13 4 0 May 17 13 11 11 9 9 4 0 June 12 4 0 July 7 3 1 0 Aug. 9 2 0 Sep. 6 3 0 Oct. 8 4 0 Nov. 16 12 10 7 3 0 Dec. 8 5 0 Jan.94 6 5 1 0 Feb. 11 5 1 0 Mar. 6 3 3 0 Apr. 13 14 10 12 17 4 1 0 May 6 0 June 4 1 0 July 4 0 Aug. 9 8 0 1 Sep 10 8 0 1 Oct. 11 11 5 0 1 Nov. 8 7 1 0 Dec. 17 16 17 23 21 19 17 Rape Homicide
8 3 0 June
15
Nov
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
May 1997
Calls for police service in RD 917 rose from February, 1993, sporadically through October of that year before they began a decline that lasted until March, 1994. Calls for service then increased continuously through August, 1994. According to LAPD violent crime statistics analyzed for this report but not shown on this chart, violent crime in RD 917 remained at levels higher than April, 1993, through June, 1996. In April, 1996, the district recorded 25 violent crimes, a level nearly equal to the high in the period shown here in September, 1993.

250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Dec Dec 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
The felony drug arrest figures in RD 917 do not lend themselves to broad conclusions due to their historical level of below 10 arrests per month. What is clear in the data is that these numbers, though they were small, did not decrease after April, 1993. The months immediately after the injunction was issued show an increase, from one arrest in February, 1993, and two arrests in March, 1993, to five in November, 1993, and eight in June, 1994.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Nov Dec Nov Dec Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
16
May 1997

RD 918 also borders RD 925. RD 918 is bounded by Roscoe Boulevard on the south, Wakefield Avenue on the east, Cedros Avenue on the west and Rayem and Osborne Streets on the north. It is one of the 10 identified most violent crime-prone districts in the 1993 Van Nuys Division analysis. RD 918 experienced the citywide February, 1993, bottoming out of violent crime, but numbers of violent incidents began to rise sharply in March and increased at a very steep rate through August. Although there was a dip in these numbers in September, the increase resumed after that and continued through January, 1994. In LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not shown on these charts, violent crime in RD 918 remained at high levels throughout most of 1995 and 1996with 15 or more violent crimes reported in all but seven months of this 24month period. Twenty or more violent crimes were committed in the district in 11 of these 24 months. In all of 1995, there were 224 violent crimes in the district and 190 in 1996.

60 50 30 40 22 30 20 10 12 9 3 0 May 6 0 June 6 0 July 18 16 12 10 14 11 3 0 1 August 7 8 0 Sep. 8 0 Oct. 12 0 Nov. 20 15 15 14 9 13 6 6 1 0 Dec. 21 17 17 14 12 9 11 2 0 Jan. 93 6 6 0 Feb. 8 0 Mar. 12 14 3 0 Apr. 8 1 0 May 13 0 June 6 0 July 8 0 Aug. 14 17 8 6 0 Sep. 8 0 Oct. 11 0 Nov. 22 14 15 14 9 10 10 3 0 Dec. 9 0 Jan.94 6 9 1 0 Feb. 27 21 27 23 23 25 22 19 16 13 10 4 9 1 0 Mar. 8 1 0 Apr. 10 12 0 May 0 June 8 1 0 July 12 0 Aug. 11 14 14 10 7 0 Sep 10 0 Oct. 14 10 20 21 17 26 23 26
20 19 13 14 5 0 Nov.
20
21
13 6 7 0 Dec. 7 0 Jan. 95
8 2 6 0 Feb.
15 6 0 March
5 0 0 1 Apr-92
Calls for police service fluctuated in RD 918 from the time the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued through the end of the period shown here. However, calls for service reached levels lower than February, 1993, in only one month of this period.

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Jul Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec Dec Jun Jul May May 1992 Apl May Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
17
May 1997
The historically small number of felony drug arrests in RD 918 do not lend themselves to broad conclusions. The trend after the injunction of April, 1993, however, has not been toward decline. The seven months before the injunction was issued show no single month with more than one felony drug arrest; in the seven months after April, 1993 the monthly total was two or more four different timesin June, July, August and November of 1993. The highest total during the span of this study was in August, 1994, with eight arrests, more than twice the total of any of the 12 months prior to the injunction.
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Mar Feb Mar Feb Jun Jun May May May Jun Jul Sep Sep Sep Dec Dec Nov Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov
5 3 2 0 Feb. 1 1 0 March
Oct
Oct

RD 919 is bounded by Woodman Avenue on the east, Osborne Street on the north, Wakefield Avenue on the west and Roscoe Boulevard on the south. Violent crime in RD 919 reached a low point for the period in April, 1993, but rose thereafter, remaining at levels higher than in the month the injunction was issued throughout most of the rest of the period. Since RD 919 is not among the 10 most violent reporting districts identified by the LAPD in Van Nuys Division, numbers of crimes there are low by comparison with other more violent districts. This same zig-zag pattern continued through 1995 and 1996 in LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not shown on these charts. However, in July and August, 1995, the district experienced a comparatively sharp increase in violent crime, with 18 incidents in July, 1995, and 11 in August. Aggravated assault accounted for 17 of the 18 July crimes. Violent crime in the district in 1996 peaked at 10 incidents reported in June. There were 81 violent crimes in the district in all of 1995 and 55 in 1996.
40 35 30 25 20 15 8 10 5 4 3 1 0 0 Apr-92 5 6 2 0 May 3 2 0 June 6 1 2 July 9 1 0 August 9 10 6 3 2 1 0 Sep. 3 1 2 0 Oct. 7 1 6 0 Nov. 5 3 2 0 Dec. 8 6 3 3 0 Jan. 93 7 1 0 Feb. 3 1 2 0 Mar. 18
Apr
11 8 4 2 0 2 0 Apr. 3 1 0 May 8 7 1 0 June 4 2 2 0 July 4 3 1 0 Aug. 8 7 1 0 Sep. 9 5 4 0 Oct. 8 6 6 2 0 Nov. 2 0 2 0 Dec. 4 1 0 Jan.94 2 0 2 0 Feb. 5 3 2 0 Mar. 4 2 2 0 Apr. 4 1 3 0 May 9 7 3 4 0 June 6 6 5 1 0 July 2 1 0 Aug.
Apr
10 8 9 1 0 Sep 4 1 3 0 Oct. 3 5 0 Nov.
9 3 5 1 0 Dec. 6 2 4 0 Jan. 95
18
May 1997
Oct
Jul
Monthly calls for police service rose sharply in May, 1993, then followed an irregular pattern that never reached that one-month level again through the rest of the period.

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Dec Dec Jun Jul 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec
Dec Nov
Sep
Sep
Sep
Nov
Nov
The felony drug arrest totals for RD 919 are far too small to draw any conclusionsthere was only one arrest in this district in all of 1993. There was no change in the pattern of arrests in this RD after the injunction, with an occasional arrest or two, followed by several months with no activity. However, the total number of arrests for 1994 was four, compared with the one arrest in 1993.

2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec May Jun Jul Dec May May Sep Sep Nov Nov Sep Oct Oct 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Apr Apr Oct Jul
19
May 1997
Nov
Oct
Oct
Oct
Apl
Apl

RD 923 is bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the west, Roscoe Boulevard on the north, Sepulveda Boulevard on the east and a Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the south. It is not among the most violent crime districts identified in Van Nuys Division by the LAPD, but it is directly south of RD 1798, a crime-troubled district in Devonshire Division. Violent crime in RD 923 hit a pronounced low, mirroring a citywide phenomenon, in February, 1993. It skyrocketed between then and the issuance in April of the Blythe Street gang injunction, then dropped again. By the fall of 1993, crime in this district had declined significantly, although actual numbers of crimes in RD 923 are low and, thus, fluctuations may not be statistically significant. Levels rose beginning in February, 1994 and remained comparatively high through most of the rest of the period. Crime in this district continued this same erratic pattern throughout 1995 and 1996, in figures analyzed for this report but not shown on these charts. In 12 months of this two-year period, there were 10 or more violent crimes in this district per month. In July, 1995, and June, 1996, there were 17 violent crimes in a one-month period, alone. There were a total of 131 violent crimes in the district in 1995 and 90 in 1996.
Total 30 25 20 15 10 5 4 12 6 3 0 June 13 11 9 4 5 2 0 July 7 1 0 August 8 6 4 1 0 Sep. 11 9 9 10 7 5 4 0 Oct. 5 4 0 Nov. 8 2 0 Dec. 9 4 3 0 Jan. 93 2 1 0 Feb. 7 1 0 Mar. 4 1 0 Apr. 8 9 5 7 3 1 1 0 May 2 0 June 7 1 0 1 July 5 1 1 0 Aug. 14 12 9 9 7 5 3 1 1 0 Sep. 5 3 2 0 Oct. 3 1 2 0 Nov. 3 1 2 0 Dec. 3 2 1 0 Jan.94 4 3 0 Feb. 7 2 0 Mar. 7 4 2 2 0 Apr. 13 9 Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide 13 10 10 8 7 4 3 0 July 8 6 7 7 1 0 Aug. 1 2 0 Sep 10 0 Oct. 3 0 2 0 1 Nov. 2 4 0 Dec. 11 0 Jan. 95 7 3 0 Feb. 8 1 0 March 11 10
6 2 0 June
4 0 0 Apr-92
1 0 May
0 May
Call for service volume in RD 923 declined steadily from May, 1993, until April, 1994, when it rose again through August of that year before dropping again. Numbers of calls for service are low by the standard of many surrounding districts.
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Jun Mar Jun 1992 Apl Sep Sep Mar Jun Jul Sep Dec Dec May May May Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
20
May 1997
Felony drug arrest patterns in RD 923 did seem to decrease slightly in the months following the injunction. The overall numbers are too small however to make a conclusive interpretation of the data. The months prior to the injunction showed approximately five to 15 arrests per month, while the months following the injunction averaged between approximately one and 10 per month.

25 20 15 10 5 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May Dec Sep May Dec Sep Jun Jul May Aug 1992 Apr Aug Aug Dec
2 1 1 0 March
Sep
Nov
Nov

RD 924 borders RD 925 to the west. RD 924 is bounded by Roscoe Boulevard on the north, Sepulveda Boulevard on the west, the Pacoima Wash flood control channel on the east and a Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the south. It is another of the districts included in this review that border high crime areas, but are not high crime districts themselves by the standards employed in the 1993 LAPD Van Nuys Division review. RD 924 experienced the same bottoming out of violent crime in February, 1993, as the city as a whole. Crime increased markedly in April and then zig-zagged through the rest of the period, with numbers of violent crimes equaling or surpassing April, 1993, in three different months. Actual numbers of violent crime incidents in this area are small, making statistical comparisons risky on a month-by-month basis. Violent crime continued to moderate throughout 1995 and 1996, during which there were only six or more violent crimes in the district in just three months. In all of 1995, there were 42 violent crimes in the district, and 39 in 1996.
Total Agg. Aslt. 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 4 2 4 0 0 Apr-92 3 0 May 5 3 2 0 June 2 1 0 July 5 5 4 1 0 August 5 5 1 1 1 Sep. 4 3 1 0 Oct. 4 3 2 0 Nov. 5 4 4 1 0 Dec. 2 3 1 0 Jan. 93 1 1 0 Feb. 3 0 Mar. 5 8 8 8 9 Robbery Rape Homicide
9 8 7 6 5 5 5 0 May 2 2 3 0 Apr. 2 1 June 2 1 1 0 July 5 1 0 Aug. 7 0 Sep. 2 2 0 Oct. 3 0 3 0 Nov. 3 2 1 0 Dec. 2 1 1 0 Jan.94 4 1 1 0 Feb. 7 2 0 1 1 0 Mar. 4 1 0 Apr. 0 May 4 4 2 0 June 3 2 1 0 July 3 0 Aug. 6 3 1 2 0 Sep 4 1 2 0 1 Oct. 6 1 0 Nov. 5 1 0 Dec. 2 1 1 0 Jan. 95 5 1 0 Feb. 7 6 6 6 6 8 7 6 6
21
May 1997
Nov
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
Call for service volume rose in RD 924 in the months immediately after the Blythe Street injunction, but fell beginning in September, 1993, before rising again in late 1994.
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Sep Sep Jun Jul 1992 Apl Sep Dec Dec May May May Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
Felony drug arrests totals per month in RD 924 were consistently small, fluctuating between one and eight. This pattern was unchanged after the injunction was issued in April, 1993.
16

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec Dec Jun Jul May May May 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
22
May 1997

RD 926, on the eastern edge of RD 925, is bounded by Van Nuys Boulevard on the west, Roscoe Boulevard on the north, Ranchito Avenue on the east and a Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the south. Although it immediately adjoins RD 925, it is not one of the districts identified as especially beset by violent crime problems in 1993. As in other comparatively quiet districts, violent crime numbers in RD 926 are low. Its data reflect the same February, 1993, low point as the rest of the city and numbers rise and fall erratically thereafter. There was a drop in violent crimes beginning in March, 1993, but rates recovered sporadically thereafter and hit levels as high or nearly as high as the period immediately before the Blythe Street injunction was issued by the winter and spring of 1994. Although numbers of violent crimes remained low in 1995 and 1996, they held steady and did not follow the citywide pattern of decline. In 1995, there were 49 violent crimes in RD 926, followed by 45 in 1996.

16 14 12 10 6 8 6 4 4 2 3 3 1 0 May 1 1 0 June 1 0 July 4 2 5 4 0 August 0 Sep. 6 2 0 1 Oct. 2 1 0 Nov. 4 0 Dec. 1 4 3 1 2 0 2 0 Jan. 93 6 1 0 1 0 Feb. 2 0 Mar. 1 0 Apr. 3 0 May 6 5 2 5 5 4 2 2 3 1 3 0 June 3 0 July 1 0 1 0 Aug. 3 4 2 0 Sep. 0 Oct. 2 1 1 0 Nov. 2 1 1 0 Dec. 5 3 0 Jan.94 0 Feb. 0 Mar. 2 0 Apr. 5 4 3 4 5 2 2 0 May 2 2 0 June 2 0 July 1 1 0 Aug. 4 2 2 0 4 7 7 8 8 7 7 6
5 4 3 3 1 0 Oct. 2 0 2 0 Nov. 2 1 0 Dec. 1 0 1 0 Jan. 95 2 0 2 0 Feb. 3 2 0 March
1 0 0 Apr-92
Call for service volumes show very low overall numbers throughout the period, declining sporadically after the date of the injunction, but picking up again beginning in March, 1994.

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Nov Dec Nov Dec Nov 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
Sep
23
May 1997
Felony drug arrests in RD 926 never went above two per month at any time during the course of this study. These numbers are too small to make any generalization, but the pattern of arrest totals remained consistent after the injunction of April, 1993.

2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Mar Feb Mar Jun Jun May May Dec May Dec Jun Jul 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec
14 7 4 3 0 Feb. 10 4 0 March
Sep
Nov
Sep
Nov
Sep

RD 936, one of the 10 most violent crime-ridden districts in Van Nuys Division in 1993, is bounded by a Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the north, Sepulveda Boulevard on the west, Van Nuys Boulevard on the east and Sherman Way on the South. After a brief decline in February, 1993, violent crime rates rose through April, dropped for the following three months, spiked upward in August, 1993 and then declined through the following April. They increased sporadically thereafter. They ended the period higher than they were when city officials filed for the Blythe Street gang injunction, but lower than when the injunction was actually issued. However, in LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not reflected in these charts, violent crime increased throughout this district in 1995, to 182 incidents from 169 the previous year. It dropped again to 149 incidents in 1996.
70 60 50 40 30 20 7 10 10 1 0 0 Apr-92 20 15 11 8 7 0 May 9 2 0 June 8 2 0 July 9 3 0 August 10 12 13 3 1 0 Sep. 17 14 10 1 2 1 Oct. 15 9 5 4 0 Dec. 14 1 0 Jan. 93 10 4 0 Feb. 17 10 14 9 7 1 0 Mar.
Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery
33 25 22 18 20 16 13 18 3 1 0 Apr. 11 7 2 0 May 8 8 0 June 8 3 2 0 July 23 15 8 8 2 0 Aug. 5 2 0 Sep. 13 5 5 2 1 Oct. 12 9 3 0 Nov. 12 8 3 1 0 Dec. 13 8 5 0 Feb. 14 12 16 11 3 0 Mar. 8 4 0 Apr. 5 0 May 21
Rape Homicide
19 15 10 8 1 1 0 June 12 6 6 0 July 11 4 0 Aug. 13 8 4 1 0 Sep 17 2 0 Oct. 14 10 4 0 Nov. 15 16
11 10 1 0 Jan.94
10 4 1 0 Nov.
11 4 0 Dec.
24
May 1997
Jan. 95
Nov
9 7 0
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
Volumes of calls for police service show and irregular increase between April and August, 1993, then decline only to creep upward again in mid-1994.

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan Jul 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Nov Dec Nov Dec Jun Jul Sep Nov 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec
Dec Nov
Oct
Oct
Felony drug arrest patterns in RD 936, of between approximately one and five arrests per month remained consistent after the injunction was issued in April, 1993.

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec Dec Jun Jul Sep Sep May May May Nov Nov Sep 1992 Apr Oct Oct Aug Aug Aug Apr Apr Oct Jul
25
Oct
Apl
Apl
May 1997

RD 937, a corner of which abuts RD 925, is another district that is not among the 10 most violent crime-prone in Van Nuys Division in 1993. It is bounded by a Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the north, Hazeltine Avenue on the east, Van Nuys Boulevard on the west and Sherman Way on the South. Violent crime volumes in RD 937 had been sporadically low in late 1992 and reflect the citywide decline for February, 1993. Although these numbers declined after the month the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued in April, 1993, the numbers are small in comparison to other districts where more crime was reported. Nevertheless, violent crime in this district remained above levels of February, 1993, through September of that year. After a pause in late 1993 and early 1994, violent crime rose again in mid-1994. In 1995, violent crime in RD 937 remained at the level reported in 199386 crimes. In 1996, there were 68 violent crimes in this district.
Figure 2-37: Violent Crime RD 937

35 30 25 20 15 10 4 5 1 3 0 0 Apr-92 5 4 1 0 May 5 2 3 0 June 8 2 0 July 5 3 0 August 10 8 7 6 5 2 0 Sep. 3 1 0 Oct. 2 0 2 0 Nov. 5 2 0 Dec. 6 0 Jan. 93 10 7 13 11 9 6 4 2 2 0 Feb. 5 4 0 Mar. 9 9 6 8 2 0 Apr. 1 0 May 6 2 1 0 June 5 1 0 July 2 0 Aug. 9 4 3 1 0 Sep. 7 1 0 1 Oct. 3 2 1 0 Nov. 3 2 1 0 Dec. 9
Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide 17
12 10 8 5 1 4 0 Jan.94 4 4 2 2 0 Feb. 3 2 1 0 Mar. 6 6 0 Apr. 2 0 May 5 2 0 June 2 0 July 7 8 15 5 7 1 0 Aug. 4 1 0 Sep 6 3 3 0 Oct. 7 5 6 1 0 Nov. 5 0 Dec. 8 6 4 0 Jan. 95 2 1 0 Feb. 3 2 1 0 March 10 9
11
Calls for police service show an erratic pattern, but the volume rises overall between April and September, 1993, and meanders upward and downward thereafter.
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Mar Feb Mar Feb Jun Jun May May May Jun Jul Sep Nov Sep Sep Nov Nov 1992 Apl Dec Dec Aug Aug Aug Dec Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
The felony drug arrest data for RD 937 were incomplete. Accordingly, no interpretation within this category was possible and they do not appear in graphic form here.
26
May 1997

RD 944 is one of the 10 high crime districts identified by the LAPD in Van Nuys Division in 1993. It is bounded by Sherman Way on the north, the San Diego Freeway on the west, Sepulveda Boulevard on the east and Victory Boulevard on the south. Violent crime in RD 944 declined in January, 1993, rose slightly in February, March and April and then shows a rapid and pronounced increase over the following five months. Violent crime levels remained above the level of April, 1993, when the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued, until December of that year. Rates increased in early 1994 and remained above April, 1993, levels through the end of the period. Violent crime volume remained stubbornly high in RD 944 throughout 1995 and 1996 in LAPD data analyzed for this report but not shown in these charts. Ten or more violent crimes were reported in the district in each of five months during this two-year period, with 17 occurring in December, 1995, alone.

45 40 35 30 25 15 20 15 10 5 8 0 0 1 Apr-92 8 2 0 May 5 1 0 June 4 1 0 July 9 10 6 8 9 3 0 August 13 12 11 12 11 6 6 2 1 2 Sep. 6 6 0 Oct. 4 7 0 Nov. 7 2 0 Dec. 4 2 2 0 Jan. 93 6 3 3 0 Feb. 6 3 2 1 0 Mar. 6 4 2 0 Apr. 12 7 12 12 12 10 2 0 June 2 0 July 6 0 Aug. 9 0 Sep. 9 8 6 0 Oct. 10 2 7 1 0 Nov. 3 0 3 0 Dec. 4 3 1 0 Jan.94 1 1 0 Feb. 10 2 7 1 0 Mar. 6 3 0 Apr. 9 14 21 18 18
12 8 7 1 0 May 8 6 2 0 June 9 6 7 2 0 July 5 0 1 0 Aug. 9 3 0 Sep
13 10 8 11 1 1 0 Oct. 4 6 0 Nov. 7 1 0 Dec. 6 1 4 1 0 Jan. 95 6 2 0 Feb. 8 7 7 0 March
4 8 0 May
The volume of calls for service shows that levels reached a peak in April, 1993, when the Blythe Street injunction was issued, but remained at levels nearly as high through most of the following five months.

180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun 1992 Apl Nov Dec Nov Dec Jun Jul Nov May May May Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
27
May 1997
The number of felony drug arrests per month in RD 944 averaged below five per month prior to the injunction and remained approximately the same after April, 1993. However March, 1994 showed a jump to 10 arrests.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Jul
1993 Jan
Mar
Feb
1994 Jan
Mar
Feb
Jun
Jun
May
May
May
Sep
Nov
Dec
Sep
Nov
Dec
Jun
Jul
Sep
Nov
14 10 11 8 2 0 Feb. 3 0 March
Aug
1992 Apr

RD 946 is also one of the 10 districts identified as among the most violent crime-ridden in Van Nuys Division in 1993. It is bounded by Van Nuys Boulevard on the west, Sherman Way on the north, Woodman Avenue on the east and Vanowen Street on the south. The pattern of violent crime in RD 946 reflects a decline in January, 1993, then an irregular rise through April. After issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction in April, violent crime rose in May, dropped for the next three months, but then rose and fell erratically after that, with levels generally sustaining themselves at or above the April, 1993, level beginning in March, 1994. Districtwide, violent crime then increased in RD 946 in 1995 and 1996, defying a citywide trend. There were 15 or more violent crimes in the district in each of seven of the 24 months in question. For all of 1995, RD 946 experienced 154 violent crimesup from 127 in 1992 and equal to the number for 1993. In 196, the district experienced 141 violent crimes, according to LAPD data analyzed for this report but not reflected on these charts.
Aug
Figure 2-42, Violent Crime, RD 946

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 11 10 5 8 0 0 2 Apr-92 6 7 0 May 7 3 6 1 0 June 5 1 0 July 6 1 0 August 4 3 0 Sep. 6 2 0 Oct. 13 9 7 7 8 4 4 0 Nov. 8 10 4 11 10 0 Dec. 8 2 0 Jan. 93 10 0 Feb. 3 0 Mar. 4 0 Apr. 9 8 0 May 9 8 5 0 June 7 3 1 0 July 6 4 0 Aug. 4 0 Sep. 14 14 13 21 18 17 13 11 10 16 9 7 8 7 2 0 Oct. 3 1 0 Nov. 10 1 0 Dec. 3 4 0 Jan.94 5 1 4 0 Feb. 11 3 0 Mar. 14 12 11 20
17 14 12 9 7 3 5 1 0 Apr. 6 1 0 May 5 4 1 0 June 9 2 1 0 July 3 0 Aug. 5 1 0 Sep 10 14 9 6 2 1 0 Oct. 9 15
17
Aug
8 6 2 0 Dec.
6 2 0 Nov.
2 0 1 1 0 Jan. 95
28
May 1997
Dec
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
Call for service volume declined in RD 946 just after the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued, but recovered to levels often as high or higher in erratic fashion during the rest of the period.

200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Nov Dec Nov Dec Nov
Nov
1992 Apl
Aug
Aug
The pattern of zero to five felony drug arrests per month in RD 946 did not change after the injunction was issued. However November, 1994, showed a jump to 10 arrests.
Figure 2-44, Felony Drug Arrests RD 946

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Jul 1993 Jan Feb 1994 Jan Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May Sep Nov Dec May Sep Nov Dec Jun Jul Sep Aug 1992 Apr Aug Aug Dec Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
Aug
29
May 1997
Dec
Oct
Oct
Oct
Apl
Apl

RD 949 existed as a single reporting district in Van Nuys Division until 1995, when it was reassigned to adjoining North Hollywood Division and divided among three different reporting districts. In 1993, the district was included on the list of the 10 most violent crime-ridden RDs in Van Nuys Division. Because the territory of RD 949 was transferred to another LAPD division, however, this report describes a reporting district that no longer appears on officials records of the LAPD, but for which crime, call for service and drug arrest data are available for the entire study period reflected in these charts. Full data for RD 949 for the years 1991 through 1994 were provided by the LAPD. Tracking crime trends in the district as it was divided in its new division is not possible. At the time the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued, RD 949 had as its boundaries Sherman Way on the north, Coldwater Canyon Avenue on the east, Victory Boulevard on the south and the Tujunga Wash flood control channel on the west. Violent crime in RD 949 reached a low in November, 1992, and rose, except in February, 1993, almost continuously through the period following the Blythe Street gang injunction reaching levels more than double the volume of the April, when the injunction was issued, by November, 1993. With some variation in isolated months, violent crime continued to rise through November, 1994.
Total Agg. Aslt. 40 35 30 20 25 20 15 10 5 6 0 0 1 Apr-92 7 2 0 May 4 0 June 13 9 8 12 10 6 2 1 1 July 11 1 1 0 August 8 3 1 0 Sep. 14 5 1 4 0 Nov. 7 2 4 1 0 Dec. 6 5 1 0 Jan. 93 7 4 3 0 Feb. 8 4 4 0 Mar. 8 6 2 0 Apr. 8 7 1 0 May 7 8 4 3 0 June 3 0 1 July 3 0 Aug. 10 7 2 1 0 Sep. 4 1 0 Oct. 13 12 17 Robbery Rape Homicide 19 16 12 13 10 14 8 5 6 2 0 Nov. 3 2 0 Dec. 7 1 0 Jan.94 8 0 Feb. 5 5 10 1 0 Mar. 5 0 3 2 0 Apr. 13 13 5 11 4 1 0 May 14 9 9 10 11 10 8 8 5 0 June 1 0 July 8 0 1 0 Aug. 8 1 1 0 Sep 8 0 Oct. 8 2 0 Nov. 5 0 Dec. 16 16 13 10 6 4 0 Jan. 95 19 19
3 0 Oct.
Calls for police service reflect a somewhat similar pattern. Rates fluctuate by month, but show a new increase for the period between April and September, 1993. A brief decline in late 1993 is followed by an increase through mid1994.
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec Dec Jun Jul May May May 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
30
May 1997
RD 949 had historically small felony drug arrest numbers. There were not more than seven felony drug arrests in any month during the year prior to the injunction, this average remained roughly consistent after April, 1993, however the total arrests in November, 1993 reached nine and 17 in March, 1994.
18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1993 Jan
1994 Jan
Jul
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Jun
Jun
Sep
Sep
Jun
Jul
Sep
Dec
Dec
May
May
May
1992 Apr
Aug

RD 955 is another of the 10 most violent crime-ridden districts in Van Nuys Division in 193. It is bounded by Vanowen Street on the north, Sepulveda Boulevard on the west, Van Nuys Boulevard on the east and Victory Boulevard on the south. Violent crime began a period of pronounced increase in RD 955 in December, 1992, which continued largely without interruption until October, 1993. The April issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction appears to have no influence on this escalating violent crime volume. A decline for several months in late 1993 and early 1994 was reversed beginning in March, 1994. This overall pattern of increase continued in 1995, when there were 176 violent crimes in RD 955up from 164 in 1994 and nearly equal to the 187 of 1993. In 1996, there were 156 violent crimes in the district.
Aug
Total Agg. Aslt. 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 4 0 0 Apr-92 11 17 7 5 0 May 8 1 0 June 8 5 7 0 July 17 14 12 9 17 10 2 1 0 August 0 Sep. 9 7 2 0 Oct. 8 4 3 1 0 Nov. 7 4 3 0 Dec. 13 22 20 19 16 Robbery Rape Homicide
25 20 18 16 15 15 13 12 11 10 2 1 0 Jan. 93 3 0 Feb. 11 13 12 4 1 0 Mar. 5 0 Apr. 4 0 May 8 6 1 0 June 11 4 0 July 8 0 Aug. 7 0 Sep. 18 8 4 4 0 Oct. 7 0 Nov. 6 0 Dec. 7 0 Jan.94 6 8 14 11 9 4 4 5 0 Feb. 7 0 Mar. 8 9 2 0 1 Apr. 6 0 May 4 1 0 June 8 0 July 4 0 Aug. 15 12 11 15 11 14 7 3 4 0 Sep 6 4 9 0 Oct. 6 1 0 Nov. 1 9 0 Dec. 11 1 0 Jan. 95 2 6 2 0 Feb. 3 0 March 9 17 20 21 19 18 15 11 10 9 12 10
Aug
31
May 1997
Dec
Nov
Nov
Nov
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
Call for service volumes show sporadic increases from the time of the Blythe Street injunction in April, 1993, through October of that year, with call rates resuming an increase pattern the following winter.
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan
1994 Jan
Jul
Jul
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Jun
Jun
Sep
Sep
Jun
Jul
Sep
Dec
Dec
1992 Apl
May
May
May
Aug
Aug
The felony drug arrest totals for RD 955 have been consistently too small to generalize. The pattern has been for five or fewer arrests per month. This continued to be the case after the injunction was issued.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Nov Dec Nov Dec Jun Jul Nov Aug 1992 Apr Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
Aug
32
May 1997
Dec
Nov
Nov
Nov
Oct
Oct
Oct
Apl
Apl

RD 956, another of the 10 districts in Van Nuys Division with the highest levels of violent crime in 1993, is bounded by Van Nuys Boulevard on the west, Vanowen Street on the north, Woodman Avenue on the east and Victory Boulevard on the south. Violent crime rates in RD 956 declined generally in late 1992 and early 1993, rose by April, when the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued, dropped briefly, then higher levels were seen through October, 1993. Increases in violent crime resumed early in 1994 and generally continued through the end of that year. Violent crime volumes remained stubbornly consistent in 1995 and 1996 in LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not reflected in these charts. Ten or more violent crimes occurred there in 14 of this 24-month period, with 16 violent crimes in May, 1995, 17 in September of that year and 15 in April, 1996. Overall, there were 124 violent crimes in Rd 956 in 1995 and another 121 in 1996.
Total Agg. Aslt. 40 35 30 Robbery Rape Homicide
20 18 16 13 10 6 5 6 0 Mar. 5 0 Apr. 6 4 0 May 1 0 June 3 0 July 4 0 Aug. 7 5 0 Sep. 6 0 Oct. 14 10 9 5 2 3 0 Nov. 6 9 3 1 0 Dec. 0 Jan.94 10 4 5 3 2 0 Feb. 5 4 1 0 Mar. 5 2 0 Apr. 10 7 4 3 1 0 May 5 0 June 13 10 10 11 9 11 8 7 2 0 July 0 Aug. 3 0 Sep 6 6 4 0 Oct. 2 7 0 Nov. 5 0 Dec. 5 6 0 Jan. 95 5 5 0 Feb. 5 5 0 March 10 10
25 15 20 15 10 4 5 3 2 0 0 Apr-92 5 5 0 May 4 3 5 0 June 3 0 July 10 14 12 9 9 6 5 2 1 0 August 5 1 0 Sep. 5 0 Oct. 9 9 9 5 4 0 Nov. 4 5 0 Dec. 6 0 Jan. 93 9 6 5 3 1 0 Feb. 9 7 8 15 15 13 13 13
13
Calls for police service reflect a sporadically upward pattern beginning just before the Blythe Street injunction was issued and continuing inconsistently through late 1994.
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Mar Mar Feb Feb Jun Jun May May May Sep Sep Jun Jul Sep Dec Dec 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
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May 1997
Felony drug arrests per month in RD 956 seemed to increase slightly after April of 1993; however, the absolute numbers are quite small. In the year prior to the injunction the arrest total reached five only once, in February, 1993. In the year after the injunction was issued the arrest total reached above five three times, in September, 1993, December, 1993, and February, 1994. The highest monthly total was eight, in December, 1993.
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Jul 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Feb Mar Feb Mar Jun Jun May Dec May Sep Dec May Sep Jun Jul Aug 1992 Apr Aug Aug Dec
15 12 9 8 11 6 3 0 June 1 0 July 1 0 Aug. 5 1 0 Sep 5 0 Oct. 2 0 Nov. 14 6 3 0 Dec. 6 0 Jan. 95 11 9 3 0 Feb. 4 1 0 March 10
Sep
Nov
Nov

RD 957, another of the 10 most violent crime-ridden districts in Van Nuys Division in 1993, is bounded by a Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way on the west and south, Van Nuys Boulevard on the east and Victory Boulevard on the north. Violent crime rates in RD 957 had dropped in late 1992, but rose between January and April, 1993. The general pattern after that is upward, though the line is sporadic. The district ended 1994 with crime rates higher than when the Blythe Street injunction was filed in February, 1993, and nearly as high as when it was issued in April, 1993. Violent crime increased further in 1995 in this district before slowing slightly in 1996. There were 167 violent crimes there in 1995 and 131 in 1996 according to LAPD figures analyzed for this report but not reflected in these charts. In 18 of the 24 months of this period, there were 10 or more violent crimes in RD 957.
Total 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 8 5 2 0 1 0 Apr-92 11 8 4 3 1 0 May 6 1 0 June 6 1 0 July 13 7 9 2 1 0 August 3 1 1 Sep. 7 1 0 Oct. 3 0 Nov. 5 0 Dec. 4 0 Jan. 93 10 14 12 14 12 9 15 15 14 11 8 7 5 1 0 Feb. 9 8 2 0 Mar. 0 Apr. 14 11 10 20 18 22 Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide
22 18 16 13 9 7 10 3 3 0 1 May 3 0 June 5 4 0 July 5 0 Aug. 11 10 2 0 Sep. 12 10 3 6 1 0 Oct. 2 0 Nov. 1 0 Dec. 3 0 Jan.94 12 13 12 12 10 11 9 11 10 8 2 2 0 Feb. 6 3 3 0 Mar. 9 3 0 Apr. 5 3 2 0 May 12 15 11 12 16 13 16
17
34
May 1997
Nov
Oct
Oct
Apr
Apr
Oct
Jul
Call for service patterns for this district reflect an increase through most of 1993, followed by a brief decline at the end of the year and in early 1994, with higher levels appearing after that through the end of 1994.

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Dec Dec Jun Jul 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Nov Nov Nov
Dec
Oct
Oct
The pattern of approximately 10 to 15 felony drug arrests per month in RD 957 remained largely consistent through 1993. There was a slight reduction of the average number of monthly arrests in 1994, averaging around five to 10 per month.
30

25
20
15
10
0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Sep Sep Jun Jul May May May Sep Dec Dec Nov Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Nov Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Jul
35
Oct
Apl
Apl
May 1997
SECTION III
Discussion and Conclusions
SECTION II OF THIS REPORT PRESENTS DATA SHOWING TRENDS in the numbers of violent crimesaggravated assault, robbery, rape/attempted rape and homicidefor 19 reporting districts of the Los Angeles Police Department in the Panorama City area of the San Fernando Valley. The precise makeup of this group of reporting districts and the rationale for their selection appears in Section I. In the months leading up to and following the issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction, city officials and other observers made ambitious claims that the injunction wasor would becapable of achieving dramatic reductions in crime rates and the overall level of gang violence in the San Fernando Valley. Much of what was represented as analysis of the Blythe Street gang injunction focused on the limited area primarily covered by the injunction, particularly Blythe Street itself, which quickly became a nationwide symbol of neighborhoods taken over by marauding street gangs, then reclaimed by aggressive law enforcement techniques. However, in internal analyses of violent crime patternsincluding those cited in this reportLAPD commanders have cautioned against drawing simplistic conclusions about crime based upon the activity on individual streets or reporting districts (RDs in police parlance). For example, the LAPD Van Nuys Area Violent Crime Analysis, dated Dec. 7, 1993, warns that: An RD is not representative of a logical area to target against crime because its parameters are arbitrarily manmade or else follow natural boundaries. Typically, a crime problem will manifest itself over several RDs, usually at major thoroughfares or intersections. Thus, drawing conclusions about the successor failureof the Blythe Street gang injunction in reducing crime requires a focus on a larger area than simply the small zone where its most stringent sanctions were concentrated. This section reviews the aftermath of the Blythe Street gang injunction from four perspectives. Most of this analysis focuses on a period beginning in late 1992, a few months before the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued and continuing through late 1994 or early 1995, more than 18 months after the court order was issued. Each relies on a review of crime and related statistics at the reporting district level that permits examination of a specific, clearly defined, neighborhood. The boundaries and locations of each reporting district involved in this study appear in Section II. A map showing the general area and specific street or terrain boundaries of each individual district appears in Section I (page 4). The four perspectives relied on in this review are: 1Violent crime totals by specific offenses as well as the combined totals for the four most serious crimes; call for police service volume; and felony drug arrest data in Reporting District 925 alone. As explained in Section I, RD 925 includes the entire area primarily affected by the Blythe Street gang injunction, not just Blythe Street itself. 2Violent crime rate, call for service volume and felony drug arrest data in an area comprising four reporting districts that are located immediately north of RD 925. These four districts include RDs 1798 and 1799 in Devonshire Division and RDs 917 and 918 in Van Nuys Division. RDs 1799, 917 and 918 border RD 925. RDs 918, 1798 and 1799 were identified by Van Nuys and Devonshire Division LAPD personnel as especially afflicted by violent crime and drug trafficking.
3Violent crime rate, call for service and felony drug arrest data for the entire area of 19 reporting districts reviewed as a single, cohesive geographic zone, albeit one that includes portions of two different LAPD divisions. 4Violent crime rate, call for service and felony drug arrest data for the City of Los Angeles as a whole, supplemented by selected data for the State of California and the United States.
PERSPECTIVE 1: BLYTHE STREET AND REPORTING DISTRICT 925

When city officials filed court papers seeking the injunction in February, 1993, the Blythe Street area was the focus of heavy media and law enforcement attention. It would be logical to suspect that RD 925 would show a direct downward trend in crime and associated factors in response to this broad scrutiny. Media accounts of the periodand many that have continued through the recent pasthave featured interviews with residents of Blythe Street and city officials who have claimed that significantly reduced rates of crime began to occur almost immediately after court papers seeking the injunction were filed. These accounts have depicted the neighborhood as a region transformed from a district overrun with violent crime to an area of peace and tranquility. However, as shown in Figures 2-1 through 2-3 in the previous section, Reporting District 925 experienced no such isolated, immediate benefit. In fact, the total number of violent crimes reported in RD 925 in 1993 increased to 160 from 155 the previous year. Although the total number of violent crimes reported in RD 925 in any one-month period is smalland month-to-month comparisons are statistically riskythe total of violent crimes reported in this district nearly doubled, from 10 to 19, between April and June, 1993. The injunction was issued in April 1993. The number of violent crimes reported in Reporting District 925 was higher than the April 93 figure in each of the following six months and in seven months of 1994. The most common violent crime, aggravated assault, shows a similar increase, although these individual month totals are small. In all of 1992, there were 112 aggravated assaults, followed by 102 in 1993. Aggravated assault fell in 1994, to a total of 80 in RD 925, but the number increased again in 1995 to 95. Although Figure 2-2 examines call for service data for Reporting District 925 and Figure 2-3 presents data on felony drug arrests in the district, these monthly totals may be too small to serve as the basis for statistically reliable conclusions. However, annual totals may be illustrative. In all of 1992, RD 925 recorded 1,741 calls for police service. In 1993, that total increased to 1,853, then declined to 1,471 in 1994. But it increased again in 1995 to 1,516 and totaled 1,500 in 1996.
Reporting District 925, which includes the area most affected by the Blythe Street gang injunction.
37
May 1997
PERPSECTIVE 2: ROSCOE BOULEVARD STRIP

In preparation of the charts that appear in Section II, it became clear that a continuous strip of four reporting districtstwo in Devonshire Division and two in Van Nuys Divisionhad experienced a collective significant increase in violent crime and drug trafficking immediately after the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued. In many respects, these sharp increases continued through 1996. Although crime data for 1997 were not utilized in this analysis, in late May of this year the Los Angeles Times began publication of a series based on the experiences of a reporter and photographer who resided temporarily on Orion Avenue, in an area within the boundaries of Reporting District 1798 and a short distance away from RDs 179, 917 and 918 and RD 925 (Blythe Street). This newspaper series (Orion Avenue: A Life Apart, by John Johnson with photographs by Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times, May, 1997) described in vivid detail high levels of gang occupation, crime and drug trafficking, suggesting that numerical trends identified in this analysis from data for 1991 through 1996 continue to evolve in human terms in the crime-ridden neighborhood. This pattern of violent crime and drug trafficking is consistent with the view that individuals inclined to engage in illegal activities might shift their operations a short distance away in the face of concentrations of law enforcement resources in an area they had previously frequented. This appears to have been what happened in what this report will refer to as the Roscoe Boulevard Strip. The Roscoe Boulevard Strip includes Reporting Districts 1798, 1799, 917 and 918. Figure 3-1 presents the consolidated totals of violent crime in these four reporting districts. The total of aggravated assault, robbery, rape/attempt rape and homicide for the Roscoe Boulevard Strip increased modestly in the month after the February court filing that sought the Blythe Street gang injunction. After the injunction was issued in April, 1993, however, the number of reported total violent crime in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip increased by more than 86 percent. The pattern meanders after that. The rate declined between July and October, rose again in November, declined slightly through March, 1994, and then rose again through November, 1994.
Total RD 1799 250 RD 1798 RD 918 200 RD 917 108 86 100 32 50 23 55 23 13 12 7 February 21 18 17 12 March 68 58 32 23 10 17 8 April 19 21 17 May 30 27 13 June 38 32 23 23 16 July 89 94
Figure 3-1: Violent Crime, RDs 1798, 1799, 917 and 918
150
94 77 66 27 26 30 11 August 32 20 14 11 September 15 19 23 9 October 25 17 25 12 November 15 20 22 10 December 17 13 19 13 January, 1994 79 67 62 59 25 12 16 6 February 65 18 10 20 17 March 64 24 24 21 13 6 April 19 21 19 May 83
98
97
99 81 89 88 59 28 40 15 17 9 September 22 20 19 October 31 21 19 17 November 22 16 13 8 December
24 32 26 16 June
37 20 23 17 July
35 17 26 21 August
27 0 4 January, 1993
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May 1997
Nevertheless, the numbers of violent crimes committed in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip never dropped below the level reported in the month the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued. In addition, as shown in Figure 3-2, the total number of felony drug arrests recorded in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip shows that while these arrests follow an irregular pattern, their general trend is that of gradualsometimes sharp increase in the months after the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued. In only one month did felony drug arrests decline to a level below that of April, 1993, and trends in the immediate aftermath of the injunction and from March through December, 1994, are unmistakably upward.
Figure 3-2: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 1798, 1799, 917 and 918
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1994 Jan 1993 Jan Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Nov Jun Jul Nov Dec May May Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Oct Apr Apr Oct
Of the four reporting districts included in the Strip, RD 1799, as shown in Figure 2-15 in the previous section, exhibited an unusually pronounced individual increase in felony drug arrests, as well as in overall increases in violent crime. Examination of these data for total violent crimes reported and felony drug arrests suggests strongly that there was a pronounced rise in the kinds of criminal activity most often associated with dangerous criminal street gangs in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip beginning immediately after the Blythe Street gang injunction was first sought and later was issued. Data for crime rate patterns in 1995 and 1996 further suggest that violent crime continued to occur at high levels throughout this additional two-year period. Taken together, the figures for violent crimes, calls for service and felony drug arrests in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip clearly show that, at the very least, criminal activity paid no heed to the issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction just a few blocks away. More ominously, there is clear evidence that there was a corresponding increase in crime in the Strip that suggests a relocation or expansion of criminality there.
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May 1997
PERSPECTIVE 3: TRENDS IN THE ENTIRE 19-REPORTING DISTRICT AREA

Clearly, evaluation of all 19 reporting districts examined here collectively permits the broadest and most reliable assessment of trends in violent crime, calls for service and felony drug arrests in a geographically consequential portion of the City of Los Angeles. Figures 3-3 through 3-5 present graphic patterns of crime and call for service trends. Figure 3-3 shows the evolution of the reported numbers of violent crimes in the 19-reporting district zone beginning in April, 1992, and continuing through December, 1994. These data make clear that violent crime rose in the area in the immediate aftermath of issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunctionand rose dramatically.
Figure 3-3: Violent Crime, 19 Reporting Districts, April, 1992-December, 1994

700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Feb Feb Jul Jul Mar Mar Jun Jun Jun Jul Dec Dec Sep Sep May May May Nov Nov 1992 Apr Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Nov Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide
Between the time the injunction was filed for in February, 1993, and June, 1993, for example, total violent crime reported in the 19-district area increased 52.1 percent. Aggravated assault increased 39.8 percent and robbery increased 70.6 percent. Although these data show considerable monthly fluctuation, their overall trendline is that of unbroken increase between the issuance of the Blythe Street gang injunction and June, 1993. Any beneficial effect of the injunction in terms of crime prevention would be expected to be at its peak during this period because of concentrated media and police attention. The actual effects are clearly contrary to the picture of success painted by city officials and media accounts. Between April, 1993, when the injunction was actually issued, and August, 1994, total violent crime in the 19-district zone increased by 27.1 percent; aggravated assault by 35.4 percent and robbery by 9.6 percent. Between February, 1993, and August, 1994, the increases were even more pronouncedtotal violent crime up 58.9 percent; aggravated assault up 81.4 percent and robbery up 17.7 percent. A breakdown of individual reporting districts within the 19-district zone is consistent with the overall figures, even though crime trends in any individual district in any single month can be subject to significant variation since actual numbers of crimes are comparatively small. Nevertheless, in the first three months after the injunction was issued violent crime rose in nine RDs, fell in nine and was unchanged in one. In the six-month period after the injunction, crime totals were still up and down in nine reporting districts each, with one unchangedalthough there was some fluctuation between districts reporting declines and increases. At 18 months after the injunction was issued, individual RDs reporting violent crime increases had moved into the majority11 to 8. Violent crime went up at each of the three intervalsthree, six and 18 monthsin seven individual districts. It went down at all three intervals in six districts. These individual district performances are consistent with
40
May 1997
trends noted above in the 19-district zone as a whole. Reporting District 925 was among those where crime rose at every increment. RDs 917, 918 and 1798 also recorded increases at each increment, while RD 1799 recorded increases at three and 18 months, but an isolated onemonth decline at six months. This buttresses the belief that the Blythe Street gang injunction played some role in setting in motion an increase in crime in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip. The precise nature of that role cannot be determined from the data reviewed here. Additional research will be required to resolve questions of this causality. It is clear that there was no beneficial effect recorded in the region in terms of violent crime reduction from the time immediately preceding the injunction. Although additional scrutiny is required to identify precise causes of numerical increases in violent crime and related measures. Trends in overall violent crime reporting for this 19-reporting district zone show no apparent connection to the Blythe Street gang injunction. However, the unbroken four-month surge in violent crime that immediately followed the court filing seeking the order and continuing until after the injunction had been issued requires substantial further analysis. In June, 1993, violent crime in this 19-district area reached a level that was surpassed in only one other month presented in this chart. Figure 3-4 shows that a related trend in the 19-district zone was that of erratic, but steadily upward numbers of felony drug arrests after the time the injunction was issued. Figure 3-6 examines the phenomenon of calls for service in the 19-district zone, which increased immediately after the injunction was issued and remained higher for the the next seven months, fell for several months, then climbed again in the middle of 1994. These two patterns reflected in Figures 3-4 and 3-6 are evidence that the Blythe Street gang injunction provided no benefit in reducing drug trafficking or the general perceived community need for police assistance.
140
Figure 3-4: Felony Drug Arrests, 19 Reporting Districts
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun May May May Nov Dec Nov Dec Jun Jul Nov 1992 Apl Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
41
May 1997
PERSPECTIVE 4: COMPARISON OF THE 19-DISTRICT ZONE TO CITYWIDE TOTALS

Trends in violent crime and related issues in Reporting District 925, the four-reporting district Roscoe Boulevard Strip and the 19-reporting district zone must finally be compared to the city as a whole. Figure 3-5 shows citywide crime totals reported by the LAPD. These figures show that: Between February, 1993, when the Blythe Street gang injunction was filed, and August, 1994, total violent crime in the City of Los Angeles rose 16.5 percent; aggravated assault increased 37.9 percent; robbery declined by 5.95 percent; rape increased 28.9 percent, and homicide dropped 1.3 percent. From April, 1993, the month the injunction was issued, through July, 1993, total violent crime in these four categories increased 8.6 percent citywide; aggravated assault went up 3.8 percent, and robbery increased 13.6 percent. From April, 1993, through August, 1994, total violent crime rose by just .55 percent citywide while aggravated assault rose 7.8 percent and robbery went down by 8.4 percent. Thus, citywide violent crime totals clearly reflect more moderate increasesand for some crimes during some confined periods net decreasesthan are observed in the 19-district zone.
Figure 3-5: Violent Crime Citywide, April, 1992-December, 1994
Total Robbery Agg Assault 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Jul Sep Jan-94 Sep Sep Jan-93 Dec Dec Nov May May May Nov Aug Aug Apr-92 Jun Aug Dec Nov Oct Oct Apr Apr Oct Rape Homicide
Calls for police service in the 19-district zone are shown in Figure 3-6 and for the city as a whole in Figure 3-7, which also reports calls for service throughout Valley Bureau, which includes Van Nuys, Devonshire, Foothill, West Valley and North Hollywood Divisions and Van Nuys and Devonshire Divisions individually.
Figure 3-6: Total Calls for Service, 19 Reporting Districts
3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1993 Jan 1994 Jan Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Dec Dec Jun Jul May May 1992 Apl May Aug Aug Aug Dec Sep Sep Sep Nov Nov Nov Oct Oct Oct Apl Apl
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May 1997
Figure 3-7: Calls for Service, Citywide, Valley Bureau, Van Nuys Division, Devonshire Division
City Wide Valley Bureau Van Nuys Division Devonshire Division
90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 Jul Jul Feb Feb Mar Mar Jun Jun Jan-94 Jun Jul Nov Jan-93 Nov Nov Dec Dec May May May Sep Sep Aug Aug Apr-92 Aug Dec Sep
1994
Oct
Oct
A comparison of these numbers establishes that call for service trends in the 19-reporting district zone and the city as a whole were similar, but that calls for service increased more sharply in the 19-district zone beginning in the month when papers for the Blythe Street gang injunction were filed and that this steeper-than-citywide trend continued through at least August, 1993. Finally, rough comparisons of citywide Los Angeles violent crime data to annual totals for the United States and California, may also be useful. The U.S. and statewide data are presented in Figures 3-8 and 3-9. Each reflects gradual annualized violent crime statistics. The totals presented here, however, are for all so-called FBI Part I crimes, which include a group of offenses larger than the four identified by the LAPD as the most significant serious person offenses for purposes of evaluation of trends and implications of violent crime rates.
Figure 3-8: Part I Crime, Nationwide, 1991-1995

1950000
1900000 # of Violent Crime
1850000
1800000
1750000
1700000 1991
1992
1993 Year
Apr
1994
1995
Figure 3-9: Part I Crime, California, 1991-1995

350000 340000 # of Violent Crime 330000 320000 310000 300000 290000 280000 1991
1992
1993 Year
Apr
Oct
1995
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May 1997
BASED ON THIS ANALYSIS AND REVIEW, WE CONCLUDE THAT:

1 The Blythe Street gang injunction failed to achieve its stated objectivean immediate reduction in violent crime and drug trafficking and an immediate increase in community safety. This failure can be clearly observed at both the micro and macro levels. This failure fundamentally calls into question the appropriateness and effectiveness of gang injunctions. The abridgement of some fundamental civil liberties has continually been justified by the supposed certainty of reduction in violent crime and enhancement of public safety. This has proven false. The injunction was accompanied by a net increase in violent crime, even in the small reporting district most immediately affected by the injunction. The most skeptical observer of the gang injunction process might have expected that the sheer concentration of media and law enforcement resources in a confined neighborhood would result in at least a temporary reduction in crime. Instead, violent crimefour offenses likely to incite fear among the public and most often associated with criminal street gang behavioractually rose immediately after the injunction was sought and issued. In the months immediately after the Blythe Street gang injunction was issued, a clear trend developed toward increased violent crime and drug trafficking activity in the Roscoe Boulevard Strip, an area of four adjoining reporting districts that span two LAPD divisionsVan Nuys and Devonshire. At the very least, the Blythe Street gang injunction had an indirect roleand may have had a direct rolein precipitating an increase in crime and drug trafficking in an immediately adjacent area far larger than the reporting district affected by the injunction itself. The futility of the gang injunction tactic is further demonstrated by the fact that violent crime and drug trafficking patterns for the 19-reporting district zone reflect significantly more pronounced increases in crime categories than citywide totals for the same offenses, according to data provided by the LAPD. Thus, it is clear that the trends in the kinds of crime most feared by the public and most often associated with criminal street gang activities not only fail to improve, but, in fact, show that the experience of the community surrounding the injunction site is demonstrably worse than the city as a whole. The Blythe Street experience validates the view of many observers of gang activity and violent crime, including personnel of Van Nuys Division of the LAPD, that it is futile to try to attack a problem as complex as criminal gang violence in the isolation of a single, tiny geographic area. Filing an injunction to affect gang activity in an area as small as a handful of square blocks, but without addressing related issues at all in nearby neighborhoods, could have no result other than a rippling effect in which criminal activity would simply move a short distance away. That the injunction did not even result in temporary reductions of violent crime in Reporting District 925, the one that includes Blythe Street, is something of a surprise since the dual spotlights of extra police deployments and media attention can often induce criminals to temporarily abandon a given area. The fact that the injunction was followed by an immediate, pronounced increase in crime rates in Reporting District 925 should be the final piece of evidence in the case that argues the futilityand even foolhardinessof relying on court orders to prevent crime in the absence of any other steps to address the complex factors that influence gang membership and gang violence.
The implications of these findings for policymakersincluding the Mayor, the City Council, the Office of City Attorney and the LAPDare unmistakable. The Blythe Street gang injunction was preceded and has been followed by elaborate claims for its effectiveness in cutting crime and making communities safer. According to statistical materials provided by the LAPD, the truth is precisely the opposite. Blythe Street has come to be symbolicboth in Southern California and nationwideof novel, aggressive use of the courts to sharply curtail the activities of presumed criminals and to markedly enhance the safety and security of the innocent public. The findings and observations presented in this report show that this confidence in and promotion of gang injunctions is unfortunately based on a series of false premises that have engendered a series of ultimately false promises.
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May 1997
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunction and Its Aftermath is part of the Public Policy Series of reports by the Public Affairs Department of the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU Foundation of Southern California. The project director and author of this report is Allan Parachini, public affairs director of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. Research assistance and data analysis support were provided by Seth Goldstein, Michael Grahn and Jordan Snedcof. Editing and graphic design were provided by Christopher J. Herrera, ACLU publications director. Graphics were produced in Microsoft Excel and the report was designed in Adobe PageMaker. Preparation of the report for posting on the Internet was in Adobe Acrobat. This document is available without charge at the website of the ACLU of Southern California: http://www.aclu-sc.org The assistance of these entities is greatly appreciated: Pomona College Internship Program Los Angeles Police Department Office of Administrative Services, Information Resources Division, Planning & Research Division and Commanding Officer, Van Nuys Patrol Division American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado Questions about this project or inquiries about purchasing paper copies of the report should be addressed via e-mail to: ACLUinfo@aclu-sc.org Or to: Public Affairs Department ACLU Foundation of Southern California 1616 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026 (213) 977-9500, x250
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May 1997

False Premise, False Promise

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A REPORT BY THE ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

A REPORT BY THE ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MAY 1997

DESIGN OF THIS STUDY

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 925

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-1: Violent Crime, RD 925

Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide

Figure 2-2: Calls for Service, RD 925

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-3: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 925

REPORTING DISTRICT 909

Figure 2-4: Violent Crime, RD 909

10 13 14 10 12 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 June Sep July Aug. Oct.

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-6: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 909

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 1796

Figure 2-7: Violent Crime, RD 1796

Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 1798

Figure 2-10: Violent Crime, RD 1798

Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery

13 17 12 12 10 11 8 4 5 7 10 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jan. 93 Feb. Mar. Sep. Dec. Nov. Oct.

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-11: Calls for Service, RD 1798

Figure 2-12: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 1798

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 1799

Figure 2-13: Viole nt Crim e , RD 1799

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 917

Figure 2-16: Violent Crime, RD 917

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-17: Calls for Service, RD 917

Figure 2-18: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 917

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 918

Figure 2-19: Violent Crime, RD 918

Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide

Figure 2-20: Calls for Service, RD 918

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 919

Figure 2-22: Violent Crime, RD 919

Total Agg. Aslt. Robbery Rape Homicide

10 8 9 1 0 Sep 4 1 3 0 Oct. 3 5 0 Nov.

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-23: Calls for Service, RD 919

Figure 2-24: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 919

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 923

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-27: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 923

REPORTING DISTRICT 924

Figure 2-28: Violent Crime, RD 924

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

Figure 2-29: Calls for Service, RD 924

Figure 2-30: Felony Drug Arrests, RD 924

False Premise/False Promise: The Blythe Street Gang Injunctionls

REPORTING DISTRICT 926

Figure 2-31: Violent Crime, RD 926