New Olympic Police Station Shows Very Positive ResultsViolent Crime Drops 13%, Arrests Up 60%

Los Angeles: The new Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Olympic Division, which opened just over a month ago, is already producing dramatic crime-fighting results for the communities it serves, with violent crime declining 13 percent and arrests rising by 60 percent.

The new station, located at 1130 S. Vermont Avenue, has literally brought hundreds of officers into the mid-city neighborhoods under its jurisdiction, areas that include Koreatown, Mid-Wilshire, Lafayette Park and Windsor Square.  Experienced homicide detectives have also been assigned to the division and are aggressively pursuing leads on cold case homicides dating back to the 1960’s. The increase in arrests is in part due to the re-deployment of officers to the new neighborhood station and is quite substantial:
•Robbery arrests up 75 percent
•Violent assault arrests up 52 percent
•Burglary arrests up 20 percent
•Violent crime arrests up 54 percent
•Other assault arrests up 57 percent
•Weapon arrests up 64 percent
•Prostitution arrests up 100 percent
•Narcotics arrests up 35 percent
•DUI arrests up 24 percent

In the first month of operation, 31 suspects (14 of which are affiliated with local gangs) have been arrested for robbery.  Weapons recovered include 14 firearms along with nine other dangerous weapons.   Response time to emergency calls is currently under five minutes.  This has resulted in the apprehension of suspects at the scene of the crime.  This emergency response time is more than a minute faster than the city average.  

One noteworthy arrest, primarily targeting Korean community members, involved a robbery that occurred on 5th Street and Ardmore Avenue in which three victims were robbed at gunpoint.  Investigators identified suspects from the robbery, and in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Fugitive Task Force, located suspects at a downtown hotel.  On Jan. 14, 2009, task force members conducted a parole search and recovered three loaded firearms, methamphetamine narcotics, multiple checks, a computer, acetone and a large number of identification and credit cards.  Two of these identification cards belonged to robbery victims.  Additional material recovered included a United States Postal Service employee’s jacket and key and credit card applications from a vehicle, linking the suspects to identity theft as well as robbery.  
Borders of the Olympic Police Station include the 10 Freeway on the south, Hoover Street on the east, Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue on the north, and Arlington Avenue, Gower Street and Crenshaw and Plymouth Boulevards on the west.

Anyone with information regarding robberies and other crimes is encouraged to contact Olympic Detectives at 213-382-9460.  After hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247) or by texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with the letters LAPD.  Tipsters may also submit information on the LAPD website:  www.lapdonline.org.  All tips may remain anonymous.