The AKT organizing committee put together a list of ways that we can protect ourselves from crime. Officer Pete Abskharon said it was the best he’d ever seen and will use it himself in neighborhood safety work! Here it is:
The officers provided some insight into crime in our neighborhood, including some alarming statistics—about 80 percent of robberies, in both cars and homes, are the result of opportunism, unlocked doors and windows. This understandably greatly dismays the LAPD and we can all work to lower this statistic!
Also, some statistics Officer Abskharon provided for the January 5, 2015, edition of the amazing Venice Update Newsletter:
VIOLENT CRIMES:
- Robberies – 25% decrease from year prior
- Aggravated Assaults – 26.7% decrease from year prior
- Total violent crimes – 20% decrease from year prior
PROPERTY CRIMES:
- Burglaries – 5.1% increase from year prior
- Grand Theft Autos – 17.6% decrease from year prior
- Burglary & Theft from Vehicles – 89% increase from year prior
- Personal Theft – 12.3% decrease from year prior
- Total property crimes – 15.9% increase from year prior
A lot of the home burglaries were unlocked doors and open windows. I want to urge everyone to lock the windows and doors in rooms they are not occupying. I noticed a sharp increase the last 3 months of suspects specifically targeting these unlocked doors/windows.
The vast majority of burglary & theft from vehicles involved expensive electronics in plain view, purses/briefcases in plain view, unlocked vehicle doors and property left in truck beds and/or rooftops (surfboards, luggage, bicycles etc.). Again, I am urging everyone in the community to remove property from their vehicles.
Officer’s made phenomenal arrests of burglars and car thieves in 2014. With that being said, I want to work on drastically reducing property related crimes in 2015. This needs to be a collaborative effort between us and the community we serve (and live in). I am reaching out to anyone who wants to establish a new neighborhood watch group or be a block captain/volunteer for their area to assist in crime reduction. Working for the Venice/Oakwood community this last year has been one of the highlights of my career and I’m looking forward to another great year!