Bass touts drop in LA crime as LAPD faces questions over neighborhood data

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- With just about a week before the election, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday touted her record on crime, saying it's down.

Standing outside the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station, Bass affirmed that crime has declined citywide and pointed to new figures, including those on violent crime.

"We are safer as a city than before I took office," Bass said.

Some of the figures released by the city compare crime data from this October with the same period four years ago, including a reported 47% decrease in homicides.

An independent analysis by ABC7 compared data from October 2026 with the same time last year. The analysis found overall crime was down 9.6% and homicides had decreased by about 13.8%.

Bass was joined by two City Councilmembers who represent the San Fernando Valley. The mayor highlighted reductions in Valley crime.

"Now burglaries are down 41% in the Valley compared to last year," Bass said.

Notably absent from the event was Councilmember Nithya Raman, who also represents part of the Valley and is Bass' mayoral opponent.

Rob Glushon, president of the Encino Property Owner's Association, criticized Raman at the press conference.

"A year and a half ago when there was a much-publicized spike in burglaries in Encino, our councilmember was missing in action," Glushon said.

In a statement to Eyewitness News, Raman's office said: "We worked closely with the LAPD's West Valley Division, the Mayor's Office, and City departments to put a dedicated crime suppression strategy in place in Encino."

"Councilmember Raman wrote directly to Encino constituents with safety updates and resources," that statement also said.

Meanwhile, questions remain about detailed neighborhood-level crime map data that the LAPD stopped releasing in 2025. Some news organizations and research groups have said neighborhood-specific data is necessary. A lawsuit was filed by the crime data aggregator SpotCrime, which accused the LAPD of "unlawful pattern of delaying tactics."

On Monday, LAPD Assistant Chief Michael Rimkunas said the department is working to make the data available again.

"We're in the process of doing that. We know there were some delays in the sense it all had to do with the mapping and the creation of the maps," Rimkunas said. "We believe it fully needs to be put out."