By the Numbers: Maps Show Long Beach Crime By Council Districts, With Increases & Decreases

Mapping and Analysis by Jennifer Gomez
Text by Bill Pearl

These maps aren't routinely available from the City of Long Beach. They were produced for LBREPORT.com by GIS analyst Jennifer Gomez utilizing officially released LBPD crime data.

The term "Part 1 crimes" stems from Part 1 of the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Reports and indicates the most serious crimes. (Part 2 crimes are all other crimes).

Part 1 crimes are reported by LBPD in two categories:

• Part 1 "Crimes Against Persons": Murder, Manslaughter, Aggravated Assault, Forcible Rape, Robbery

• Part 1 "Crimes Against Property": Residential Burglary, Commercial Burglary, Auto Burglary, Grand Theft, Petty Theft, Bike Theft, Auto Theft, Arson

Percent change calculations are aggregated by LBPD Reporting Districts to represent Council district boundaries as closely as possible. Council boundaries and LBPD reporting districts aren't perfectly congruent but for statistical purposes, they are very close. The maps do display Council boundaries with the LBPD Reporting District aggregated boundaries so any areas of overlap are visible.

The map below shows Total Part 1 Crime percent change from 2011-2012.

The map breaks out Part 1 Crimes Against Persons:

The map below shows the Burglary portion of Part 1 Crimes Against Property (residential, commercial + auto burglaries):

The map below shows the Theft (Larceny) portion of Part 1 Crimes Against Property (grand theft, bike theft, petty theft and auto theft).

We accompany these maps with context and caveats. Some official statistical categories combine more than one type of crime. An "Aggravated Assault" may be a shooting, or an assault with a knife, or a person hitting their spouse. LBREPORT.com will provide greater detail on these distinctions as we get them.

For mapping purposes, auto burglaries are included on the map with residential and commercial burglaries. In similar fashion, auto thefts are put on the same map as other theft/larceny crimes (grand theft, bike theft and petty theft). LBPD organizes these crimes differently for its statistical purposes.

Council district lines are political and thus to some extent inherently arbitrary, but since elected officials routinely seek credit for what takes place in their districts, we think it's appropriate to report crime by the Council districts that Councilmembers were elected to represent.

Although statisticians distinguish between "crimes against persons" and "crimes against property," in our view these are both fundamentally crimes against persons. The person is the victim, not the property.

Every statistic represents a person who became a crime victim in the City of Long Beach. They are not just numbers. They are people.

Beyond those directly victimized, others living and working in crime-impacted areas have likely experienced streets blocked off by police vehicles, helicopters whirring overhead or may have been prevented from entering or leaving their neighborhoods by crime scene tape. Neighbors who've seen neighbors victimized may now take steps, some costly, others burdensome, to avoid becoming a victim as well. Their quality of life is impacted by what takes place around them even though they're not counted in the statistics below.

LBREPORT.com welcomes your response to this data. Let us know in what part of town you are (major cross-streets are fine), who your Councilmember is and what voted actions you want him or her to take in response to this data.

Use our Facebook and Disqus comment systems below to share your views...and feel free to let your friends and neighbors know about this page (via Facebook, Twitter or email).

And watch for additional crime data coming...on LBREPORT.com.