L.A.'s Murder Rate is Still Down

By LA Weekly's count of every murder within Los Angeles city limits, we are at 168 as of yesterday when a taxi driver stabbed earlier this month died of his wounds. Compare that to last year July 18th, when there were 208 murders and juxtapose that to the 162 this year as of that date. That's a 22.1% decline in murders so far. Add to that, the murder rate has declined over the last few years. The LAPD's consent decree ended last week, which in theory should let officers be more productive in some aspects, but some oppose the lifting of the decree. The ACLU contends that there are still problems within the department in regards to racial bias.