Los Angeles County began 2010 with significantly fewer homicides in the month of January than in recent years, including a 40% drop in the city of Los Angeles, according to a Times analysis of crime data.
With homicides already at their lowest levels in decades, countywide there were 51 killings in the first month of 2010, compared with 78 homicides in January 2009, according to data gathered for the Homicide Report. There were 79 homicides in January 2008 and 81 in January 2007.
Read more on the drop from Times' reporter Richard Winton: L.A. County sees big drop in January homicides