![[Photo of LAPD squad cars lit up at night.]](https://uscannenberg-uscannenberg-prod.web.arc-cdn.net/resizer/v2/LCP2MPIF5NEFBLY652A66QF5JI.jpeg?smart=true&auth=e56f6144cb3af1d8851fed7e401ad7d94c09c2c7a9932fe945e9dd9782590ed8&width=2048&height=1152)
The Los Angeles Police Department is no longer publishing criminal map records, despite having released information about local crimes for over two decades. Other law enforcement agencies within L.A. County continue to update these records, while the LAPD has decided to withhold criminal data information from the public.
On the Crime Mapping and COMPSTAT website, the public can view reported crime incidents across all L.A. County police departments — except for the LAPD.
“I guess my first thought is: ‘Why? and Who’s that helping?,” Lola Makanjuola, a freshman studying game design, said. “I think the public has a right to know about what’s going on around them — I mean, we live here, we deserve a right to know.”
Users can filter crimes from several law enforcement agencies to view information such as date, time, location, and type of crime.
LAist requested LAPD’s COMPSTAT data in May to verify claims of specific crime and police activity in L.A. The more detailed data would include locations and the possible use of police force.
The LAPD denied LAist’s request on October 30.
Previously, the LAPD had published data on the online crime map, providing information on crime updates occurring in L.A. neighborhoods. On the map, the LAPD’s jurisdiction is represented by a distinct empty area.
In a statement to LAist, the LAPD said the reason for withholding these records was that it would have “the potential to lead to misguided public policy discussions or unjustified public panic.”
Before this statement and change on the crime mapping website, the LAPD had maintained these records accessible to improve “inspection and accountability.”
“I understand why they might not want to scare people because crime is everywhere, and not every bit of it needs to be pushed out in front of everyone’s eyes all the time, Neda Reddy, a first-year law student, said. “But I think it should be published still for people to access if they want to.”
In another statement to LAist, the LAPD said the data that reports and tracks arrests made by the department was “currently unavailable due to structural errors and duplicate entries.”
As of November 6, any crime map data from the LAPD remains unavailable and inaccessible to public users.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has not yet published a statement on the LAPD’s decision to withhold crime records.
A Los Angeles Times article published last year stated that the LAPD had stopped posting crime numbers to its public website, indicating that the recent withholding of crime records was not the first time the police department had refused to publish public information.
While USC recruits private campus public safety officers, there is a “memorandum of understanding – as required by California law – with the Los Angeles Police Department that defines its jurisdictional boundaries and authority to enforce the law and to investigate crime,” according to the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS) website.
Makanjuola suggests that having a “more attentive DPS” at the gates may make students feel safer because she feels “definitely more uneasy and anxious knowing that we don’t have access to those records anymore.”
As of publication, LAPD has not responded to requests for comment.