The LBPD, like other police departments nationally, uses a uniform system for reporting crime. Crimes are divided into Part 1 (serious or violent crimes) and Part 2 (other/less serious crimes).

Part 1 (serious or violent crimes) are divided into crimes against persons (total murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery plus aggravated assault) and crimes against property (total residential, commercial and auto burglaries; auto, grand, petty & bike theft; plus arson).

Analyzing crime data by Council district can provide useful insights, unavailable in "citywide" crime data (where safer areas necessarily offset data from areas in which residents and businesses are less safe than they deserve to be).

Crime data by Council district also allows comparison of areas of roughly equivalent population. To its credit, the LBPD reports crime data by Council district.

Coun. Dist.	Total P1 crimes against persons	Details
1	607 (up from 565)	16 murders (up from 11), 0 manslaughters (no change), 17 rapes (down from 26), 267 robberies (down from 275), 307 aggr. assaults (up from 253)
6	586 (up from 564)	4 murders (down from 12), 0 manslaughters (no change), 17 rapes (down from 20), 236 robberies (down from 274), 329 aggravated assaults (up from 258)
9	461 (up from 419)	13 murders (up from 6), 0 manslaughters, 12 rapes (up from 7), 196 robberies (up from 191), 240 aggravated assaults (up from 215)
2	435 (down from 457)	5 murders (down from 7), 0 manslaughters (no change), 19 rapes (up from 13), 181 robberies (down from 192), 230 aggr. assaults (down from 245)
8	363 (up from 307)	3 murders (down from 4), 0 manslaughter, 14 rapes (up from 12), 159 robberies (down from 161), 187 aggravated assaults (up from 130)
4	362 (up from 344)	5 murders (up from 1), 0 manslaughters (no change), 12 rapes (down from 14), 166 robberies (up from 165), 179 aggravated assaults (up from 164)
7	310 (up from 303)	3 murders (down from 6), 0 manslaughters, 10 rapes (up from 7), 112 robberies (down from 140), 185 aggravated assaults (up from 150)
3	146 (up from 138)	0 murders (down from 1), 0 manslaughters (no change), 8 rapes (up from 7), 60 robberies (down from 78), 78 aggravated assaults (up from 52)
5	100 (up from 90)	0 murders (down from 1), 0 manslaughters, 8 rapes (up from 1), 27 robberies (down from 37), 65 aggravated assaults (up from 51)

Coun. Dist.	Total P1 crimes against property	Details
2	2,191 (up from 2,154)	299 res. burg (up from 289), 110 comm'l burg (up from 77), 517 auto burg (down from 588), 161 grand theft (down from 186), 540 auto theft (up from 441), 436 petty theft (up from 423), 111 bike theft (down from 129), 17 arson (up from 21)
1	1,858 (down from 1,893)	216 res. burg (down from 236), 120 comm'l burg (down from 128), 402 auto burg (down from 435), 102 grand theft (down from 114), 522 auto theft (up from 395), 372 petty theft (down from 457), 90 bike theft (down from 103), 34 arson (up from 25)
4	1,709 (down from 1,724)	225 res. burg (up from 202), 79 comm'l burg (up from 100), 474 auto burg (down from 495), 79 grand theft (down from 107), 429 auto theft (up from 389), 341 petty theft (down from 360), 54 bike theft (down from 53), 28 arson (up from 18)
3	1,706 (up from 1,446)	266 res. burg (down from 268), 109 comm'l burg (up from 80), 396 auto burg (up from 324), 174 grand theft (up from 127), 315 auto theft (up from 285), 380 petty theft (up from 293), 59 bike theft (down from 65), 7 arson (up from 4)
9	1,695 (down from 1,772)	303 res. burg (down from 390), 129 comm'l burg (up from 109), 291 auto burg (up from 278), 105 grand theft (up from 83), 526 auto theft (down from 544), 269 petty theft (down from 309), 29 bike theft (no change), 43 arson (up from 30)
6	1,559 (up from 1,350)	230 res. burg (down from 248), 121 comm'l burg (up from 63), 283 auto burg (up from 260), 81 grand theft (down from 91), 446 auto theft (up from 324), 305 petty theft (up from 282), 59 bike theft (up from 57), 34 arson (up from 25)
8	1,545 (down from 1,598)	304 res. burg (down from 339), 111 comm'l burg (up from 99), 285 auto burg (no change), 397 auto theft (down from 475), 292 petty theft (up from 257), 34 bike theft (down from 45), 33 arson (up from 17)
7	1,477 (up from 1,335)	298 res. burg (up from 223), 89 comm'l burg (down from 112), 354 auto burg (up from 227), 90 grand theft (up from 97), 353 auto theft (up from 339), 257 petty theft (down from 291), 23 bike theft (no change), 13 arson (down from 23)
5	1,415 (up from 1,266)	122 res. burg. (up from 121), 91 comm'l burg (up from 71), 427 auto burg (up from 292), 102 grand theft (down from 124), 377 auto theft (up from 351), 261 petty theft (down from 274), 20 bike theft (down from 28), 15 arson (up from 5)

Although Council district data are more illuminating than "citywide" data, they have a similar shortcoming: they offset disparate areas (in this case, parts of the Council district) that may have different crime levels.

For this reason, and because community based policing involves neighborhood-level issues, LBReport.com has posted LBPD's neighborhood size crime data on a link below. To its credit, LBPD reports crime by small, neighborhood-size crime reporting districts, which provide useful information for savvy neighborhood groups and businesses.

The LBPD's neighborhood size crime reporting districts in central LB are roughly a quarter square mile (about 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile), although districts elsewhere in the city are irregularly shaped and larger. They provide greater detail but are not of equal population size.

Neighborhood-size crime data provide the ultimate in neighborhood empowerment. They can dispel mythology and stereotypes and reveal neighborhood impacts masked by "citywide" or Council district crime data.

The LBPD data are not (yet) published in digital form so they are less user-friendly than we'd like. To post them, we had to scan pages of LBPD's analog data and a large LBPD map into .pdf files.

We will also assist neighborhood or business groups wishing to analyze their area's data. If you'd like assistance, contact us at

You can access the detailed LBPD crime data for neighborhood reporting districts by clicking on Crime Data. This link is also available via the "Crime data" link on the left side of LBReport.com's pages.

Crime statistics posted on LBReport.com do not assert or imply the safety or crime risk of any specific location or address. The data are public record and speak for themselves.

Data can be interpreted in different ways. We urge readers not to draw inferences beyond the data. In our view, reported crime stats are analogous to an X-ray or ultrasound, an imperfect image but useful when used carefully.

Finally, it behooves all of us to recall that these crime statistics represent real people -- LB residents, businesses, visitors or customers -- who were unjustly victimized in our city.

LB's City Council voted in September, 2001 -- after Sept. 11 -- to give LB taxpayers fewer budgeted sworn police officers per capita than Signal Hill or Los Angeles. LB's Council-budgeted police level is 1.93 officers per thousand population (using the most recent LB population figure from the CA Dept. of Finance that includes adjustment for a census undercount). By comparison, Signal Hill delivers closer to 3.0 officers per thousand residents while L.A.budgets roughly 2.6 and delivers closer to 2.3 cops per thousand.

The Council-budgeted 913.5 officers is the same number proposed by city management before the Sept. 11 terror attacks (and before officers had to handle additional security tasks).

And, as first reported by LBReport.com, LB taxpayers do not even have the thin level budgeted by the Council. In October 2001, retired Retired Public Safety Advisory Commissioner John Deats charged City Hall was providing fewer officers than the Council budgeted.

After several weeks of making these charges from the podium, Councilmembers requested a series of reports, culminating in a report last month by LBPD Chief Jerome Lance indicating that LB currently has roughly 853 sworn officers and will have only roughly 894 (not 913.5) when a new Police Academy class graduates at the end of April. That 894 level will also be further be thinned by retirements.

Despite continuing crime increases, already evident by the Council's budget vote last September, Councilmembers voted to give an additional $1,000,000 to the "Public Corporation for the Arts" (a sum sufficient to fund roughly ten fully equipped sworn police officers.) This was in addition to $750,000 in public funds proposed by city management for the "Public Corporation for the Arts."

The Council has also continued to budget a total of $1.5 million in "discretionary" district funds, money distributed in public Council votes to groups and projects favored by individual Council members. (The total sum could fund roughly 15 additional police officers.) "Discretionary funds," first instituted by the Council a few years ago, have recently come under fire from some members of the public who charge it is a de facto "slush fund" that incumbents can use to gain political advantage.

Councilmembers have the power to agendize reopening the budget to reprioritize spending at any Council meeting. No incumbent member of the City Council has moved to do so.