The situation on Los Angeles streets is getting more and more serious, as crime in homeless encampments is increasing at a horrifying rate.
On the day that Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered the closures of businesses in L.A. due to the pandemic (March 15, 2020) to a year later on March 14, 2021, according to Crosstown, there were 221 incidents of crime reported at a homeless encampment, a 51% increase from the 146 in the previous 12-month period, according to Los Angeles Police Department data.
That figure is also a nearly 173% jump from the 81 reported two years prior.
“The crime on Skid Row has skyrocketed,” Rev. Andy Bales, president and CEO of the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A. tells Crosstown. “We used to have a rare occurrence of shootings. Now we have them every week. People are suffering from robberies, rape, hunger, the cold or heat—you name it. I don’t know if there’s a place anyone can suffer more. It’s an absolute disaster.”
Commander Donald Graham, Jr., the homeless coordinator for the Los Angeles Police Department, tells Crosstown that he attributes the increase in crime to the City Council's decision to not to move tents and vehicles that unsheltered people are using to live in, as per the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control guidelines that encampments be allowed to stay in place so as not to spread transmission of COVID-19.
“An unfortunate consequence of this has been a massive increase in the density of the encampments,” Graham said. “Even vehicles parked on the roadways have become de-facto encampments.”