Los Angeles: Safest Big City in US

Overall crime rate in the city of Los Angeles has fallen, reveal reports.

New crime figures released for 2012 show that the overall crime rate in Los Angeles fell 1.4 percent.

At a press conference called to tout the new numbers, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that crime was down in the city for the 10th consecutive year, which was an extraordinary achievement for them.

Overall, violent crime fell by 8.3 percent, with the number of murders remaining low. Just 20 years ago there were 1,092 murders in Los Angeles. In 2012, the city recorded just 298.

According to the New York Daily News, Police Chief Charlie Beck said that the cities efforts to target gang-related crime have paid off.

While robberies were down 11 percent from the year before, and the number of reported aggravated assaults plunged by 6.3 percent, not all the news was good.

The number of rapes reported rose by 4.9 percent, and thefts ticked up by 4.3 percent from their 2011 totals, the report said.

One area of special concern, however, was a 30 percent spike in cellphone thefts over the past year.

Last month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg blamed iPhone thieves for the slight rise in the number of thefts in the Big Apple, it added.

Source: ANI