Murder Rate to be a Record Low in 2009?

A crime scene in West L.A. | Photo by atomicshakespeares via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr

The Los Angeles City Council right now is in the process of confirming LAPD Chief-designate Charlie Beck (you can tune in on Channel 35). Councilmembers are asking him questions before officially confirming him as Chief.

Of the many things Beck replied, he did say this interesting fact, as noted by NBC's Robert Kovacik on Twitter: "We may have the first year in modern history where the city of LA dips below 300 homicides."

That's true, with less than two months to go, Los Angeles has seen 265 murders as of November 7th, according to the LAPD's last COMPSTAT report. During the same period of time in 2008, there were 328 murders. That's a difference of 19.2 percent.