30% DROP IN GANG SLAYINGS GAIN IS RESULT OF MONTHS OF EFFORT AFTER 44% RISE IN VALLEY CRIME IN '06.

Byline: RICK ORLOV and RICK COCA

Staff Writers

In the wake of beefed-up police efforts, gang-related crimes in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley have dropped as much as 30 percent in the first five months of the year to one of their lowest levels in history, city officials said Thursday.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said the most recent statistics through May 26 show a 30 percent drop in citywide gang-related slayings and a 24 percent decline in all homicides.

In the Valley, police recorded 30 homicides in the five-month period overall, 16 of them gang-related. Both were down about 12 percent from the same time last year, according to the latest statistics available.

"Today is a good day for Los Angeles and an even better day for our neighborhoods and families," Villaraigosa said at a news conference at the 77th Division station with Bratton and other law enforcement officials involved in the anti-gang effort.

"Today is a day of encouragement, but it is also a day to sharpen our focus on the challenges that lie ahead. What is clear is that this effort has been working and is on target."

While gang-related homicides saw the biggest drop, the total of all gang- related crimes dropped 5.5 percent citywide -- from 2,521 incidents last year to 2,382 this year. Still, gang-related crimes in the San Fernando Valley rose about 9 percent.

The findings come after months of city efforts to quell growing gang violence. In Los Angeles, gang-related crimes rose 14 percent last year, while the San Fernando Valley saw a 44 percent increase.

In February, the LAPD created its own Most Wanted list of gangsters and developed a program that brings in the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the District Attorney's and City Attorney's offices in a coordinated response.

Dedicated officers

More police officers also were dedicated to the effort and Bratton credited the extra resources for the drop in gang crime so far this year.

"A year ago, we had 196 homicides," Bratton said. "This year, we had 148. That's 48 fewer victims. It is also 48 fewer people whose lives are being ruined by going to jail. In a sense, we are saving two lives."

But City Councilman and former Police Chief Bernard Parks said it's a little early to celebrate, and that year-end figures give a more accurate picture of crime trends. "These snapshot views of crime are not accurate," said Parks, a consistent critic of the Los Angeles Police Department under Bratton's leadership. "We've seen over time, the first quarter of every year it drops (and) hits a crescendo in the summer months," said Parks, adding that crime usually tapers off toward the end of the year.

Parks said end-of-the-year homicide numbers usually hover around 500, and that ending up substantially below that would be a marked improvement.

"If you have a legitimate 25 percent drop in homicides and you can maintain that through the year, then that's a significant drop," Parks said, adding that five- to six-year assessments offer even more accuracy.

'Historic low'

Parks also questioned the use of words such as "historic low" to describe crime rates because the criteria for categorizing crimes and data gathering have changed over time.

"We're down as low as the Eisenhower years," said Parks, quoting a popular saying around City Hall. "I mentioned to (Police Commission President) John Mack, you as a department are misleading the public any time you compare (current crime with) crime prior to 2005."

In 2005, the LAPD removed some forms of domestic abuse from the list of violent crimes, following the FBI's standard.

Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the Valley's top cop, said violent crime is down about 7 percent and gang-related homicides are down about 16 percent across the Valley. But gang crime is up about 9 percent, he said.

"The story about gang violence in the San Fernando Valley is (that) it is mixed," Moore said. "We have seen a pullback (in gang-related homicides). Unfortunately, we haven't seen a pullback in assaults and shootings."

Moore said the lower numbers of gang-related homicides are proof that the stepped-up focus on gang crime in 2007 is paying off.

"I believe we're seeing dividends in that effort in some areas of the valley," Moore said.

Figures for individual divisions were not available for the January- through-May period. Through April, all the Valley's six stations reported a drop in gang-related homicides, and three of those -- Mission, West Valley and North Hollywood -- saw drops in gang crime. The three others saw increases.

The biggest increase came in Devonshire, where gang-related crime has risen 58 percent over last year with 41 crimes reported compared with 26 a year ago. But Moore said Devonshire traditionally has the lowest rate of gang crime in the Valley, so a small spike in activity can send its numbers skyward. In the Foothill Division, which covers the Northeast Valley and is historically one of the Valley's most violent precincts, gang-related crimes have risen 25 percent over last year.

But the division has seen just four homicides so far this year, compared with nine last year, said LAPD Lt. George Rock, who supervises Foothill detectives.

Two of the homicides have been gang-related. In one case, police have issued an arrest warrant for Joe Gutierrez, a reputed Pacoima gang member suspected in the killing of Alejandro Montalvo, 18. Montalvo was shot April 18 in the 9700 block of Telfair Avenue in Pacoima, Rock said.

To combat continuing problems, Bratton said he created a 90-member Criminal Homicide Investigation Group in South Bureau that focuses only on killings involving gangs.

Of 50 cases investigated so far -- some dating back more than two decades -- the unit has solved 42. Citywide, the number of homicides solved is up from 44 percent of all cases to 74 percent.

"With more resources, we can devote more time to the cases and solve them," Bratton said. "And with fewer murders taking place, we have more time to look at the unsolved cases to resolve those. It's simply a matter of resources."

City threatened

But even with the successes, Villaraigosa and Bratton said, homicides continue to threaten parts of the city.

"One murder is too many," Villaraigosa said. "I was talking with a family and I told them reading about it makes it a faceless crime. It doesn't tell of the dreams that were killed, the families that are destroyed when someone is taken from them.

"No parent should have to worry about their child being shot."

The department cited three recent shootings in South Los Angeles involving a 23-year-old mother, a 19-year-old student and an 18-month-old girl -- all victims of random violence.

Yavita Tenille, whose 19-year-old son, Bryant, was killed two weeks ago in a drive-by shooting, pleaded with the public to help find her son's killer. "Please come forward if you have any information so we can arrest the coward who shot my son," she said.

Villaraigosa said he hopes a second phase of gang-prevention efforts, which includes intervention and social programs, could improve the situation even further.

"No law enforcement official will tell you we can arrest our way out of this problem," Villaraigosa said. "That's why I talk so much about education. It is no coincidence that our worst problems are in areas where there is high poverty, broken families and high numbers of dropouts."

Staff Writer Jason Kandel contributed to this report.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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