FEWER HOMICIDES MEAN MORE TIME TO WORK ON CASES; SOLUTION RATE RISES ABOVE 70%.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

With Los Angeles' homicide rate dropping to a level not seen since 1970, detectives have lighter caseloads, are solving more killings and getting more time to crack years-old cases, police said Wednesday.

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said this week that Los Angeles has logged 307 homicides so far this year, putting the city on a record pace toward fewer than 400 killings by the year's end, since more occur in the summer.

In 1993, there were 1,077 homicides in Los Angeles and detectives solved, or ``cleared'' in police terms, 60.8 percent of the cases. By comparison, last year there were 569 homicides, and the clearance rate was 70.7 percent.

``With lower caseloads, detectives have more time to work on cases so they should have a higher clearance rate,'' said Capt. Jim Tatreau, commanding officer of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division, which handles many of the most complex and high-profile homicides. ``We are seeing a higher clearance rate.''

Earlier this year, Parks issued a report that attributed the decline in the rate of serious crimes to a variety of factors, chiefly: the ``three strikes, you're out'' sentencing law; more police on the streets; and demographics - the decline in the number of young males who, statistically, are most likely to be involved in crime.

LAPD officials are so encouraged by the trend that they have ordered police divisions to audit unsolved cases going back five years and to send promising cases to the Robbery-Homicide Division for fresh looks.

Los Angeles still does not have as high a clearance rate as other major cities.

New York City, which has twice the population and three times as many officers, had 767 homicides last year with a clearance rate of 88.8 percent, said Lt. Stephen Biegel.

LAPD officials also say that clearance rates must be viewed with caution because they count all homicides solved in a year, including crimes committed in previous years, against the number of homicides committed that year. As a result, some divisions, including the LAPD's West Valley Division, have had clearance rates above 100 percent in recent years.

Also, the actual number of homicides solved can drop even with higher clearance rates.

Even so, LAPD officials say the drop in homicides this year has given them a significant chance to spend more time on each case, allowing for higher success rates in putting killers behind bars.

Nowhere in the city is that more apparent than in the South Bureau, which has traditionally had the largest number of homicides of any area of the city.

The bureau, which covers an area from the harbor to South Central Los Angeles, had 428 homicides in 1993 - nearly half of all killings in the city - which meant each detective handled 12 to 20 new cases that year, according to Lt. John Dunkin, who heads the homicide unit in South Bureau.

This year, with 106 homicides so far, detectives are handling about five cases each, Dunkin said.

The result: The clearance rate in South Bureau has risen from 55 percent in 1993 to 90 percent today, the lieutenant said.

``Clearly, one of the significant factors is that detectives have more time to work their cases, to chase down leads,'' Dunkin said.

Police in the San Fernando Valley are also being freed up to chase old cases and boost clearance rates.

While some Valley divisions are bettering the citywide clearance rate, North Hollywood and others are not seeing dips in the number of homicides and thus have had lower clearance rates.

In North Hollywood, the clearance rate is 62 percent this year, down from 70 percent last year and 94 percent the year before.

The Valleywide rate so far this year is 68 percent, while in 1995, the earliest year available, the rate was 81 percent.

The Van Nuys Division has a clearance rate of 87 percent this year - higher than the citywide rate.

Of the 11 homicides this year, all but two have been cleared.

Only one of the 15 homicides last year in Van Nuys Division remains unsolved, Fisk said.

MURDER CASES SOLVED

In recent years, the number of homicides in Los Angeles have steadily declined and the percentage solved, or ``cleared'' in police terms, have increased.

Year Number of homicides Percent solved

1993 1,077 60.8 %

1994 850 64.5 %

1995 838 61.6 %

1996 707 64.6 %

1997 569 70.7 %

1998

(to date) 307 N/A

SOURCE: Los Angeles Police Department 

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BOX: Murder Cases Solved (see text)