More than a dozen Los Angeles gangs involved in various home burglaries, police say

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Five home burglaries have been reported in Los Angeles in the past 48 hours, the Los Angeles Police Department told the city’s police commission Tuesday, marking a rebound in a trend that had previously declined in 78% in March compared to its peak in November.

The phenomenon, in which police say armed suspects follow victims from restaurants and shopping areas such as Melrose Avenue and the jewelry district to steal jewelry, watches or vehicles, was “almost unknown” before last year, according to Capt. . Jonathan Tippet, who leads the Follow Home Robbery task force created in November.

In September and October, the department’s Robbery-Homicide Division began noticing a pattern of increased burglaries involving multiple vehicles and multiple armed suspects coordinating to rob people of high-end vehicles and jewelry, Tippet said.

“In my 34 years with the LAPD, I have never seen this type of criminal behavior in such large groups coordinating to carry out attacks on unsuspecting citizens to take their property and/or vehicles,” Tippet told the commission.

The department counted 51 “of these violent armed robberies” in September and October. The task force, which includes 18 detectives, 11 investigators from the Robbery-Homicide Division, four from the Operations Bureau and three from the Detective Bureau, was created on Nov. 23.

In dealing with burglary investigations, the task force adjusted the department’s usual practice of waiting to identify everyone involved in a burglary before making arrests, Tippet said.

“Because of the crisis, we started making arrests as quickly as possible once people were identified,” he said, adding that it was effective in reducing the number of incidents. “It has been a significant undertaking, however I am confident that we are slowing this trend,” Tippet said.

Ten home break-ins were reported in March, a 78% decrease from a four-week period between October and November in which 45 were reported.

The department said the most incidents seen in a two-week period were 26 in November. In the most recent two-week period, only seven subsequent home break-ins were reported, and the previous two weeks only saw three subsequent home break-ins, Tippet said.

However, the department is investigating five reported burglaries in the last 48 hours, Tippet said.

A total of 221 home break-ins have been reported between the task force’s creation in November and April.

The department believes a total of 17 South Los Angeles gangs are involved in the robberies, but many of them are allegedly from rival groups and are not working together.

As of April 10, the task force has handled one murder investigation involving four arrests, two attempted murder investigations, 125 robbery investigations, five attempted robbery investigations, five assault with a deadly weapon investigation, five grand theft investigations and two incidents in which shots were fired. fired into an occupied dwelling, Tippet said.

Home burglaries have occurred primarily in the West Office, which had 130 reported, with 50 in the Hollywood area, 46 in the Wilshire area, 17 in the Pacific area, and 15 in West LA. Central Office had 49 home break-ins, with 40 of them in the central area, including the Jewelry District in downtown Los Angeles.

Twenty-three of the incidents resulted in shooting, with 13 people shot.

“We’ve seen countless people traumatized by having a gun pulled on them and robbed…many others are dealing with the trauma and injuries of being tackled, kicked, punched, punched and hit with a gun to the head. It’s a miracle that no more deaths have occurred,” Tippet said.

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