Police officers investigate after a shooting at Peck Park, Los Angeles, California, the United States, July 24, 2022. (Xinhua)
California's decline in overall clearance rates has been driven by falling property felony clearances, a drop of 59 percent, while the solve rate for violent felonies also fell 14 percent during the 1990-2022 period.
SACRAMENTO, United States, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Despite receiving billions of U.S. dollars in funding in recent years, California police have solved just a fraction of the overall crimes committed, a new report has found.
The report, published by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) on Monday, found that only 13.2 percent of crimes, or fewer than one in seven crimes reported across the state, were solved in 2022.
After analyzing one of the core measures of law enforcement effectiveness -- crime clearance rates, the share of crimes that are considered solved after law enforcement makes an arrest, the report concluded that the state's crime clearance rates have fallen to historically low levels.
There's been a "steep decline" in crime clearance rates over the past three decades, as the statewide overall clearance rate fell by 41 percent from 22.3 percent in 1990, according to CJCJ, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and advocating for criminal justice reform.
California's decline in overall clearance rates has been driven by falling property felony clearances, a drop of 59 percent, while the solve rate for violent felonies also fell 14 percent during the 1990-2022 period.
A police officer stands guard on the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, the United States, Jan. 22, 2023. (Xinhua)
In 2022, the clearance rate for property crimes was at 7.2 percent, while 41 percent violent crimes were cleared by law enforcement, according to the report.
This steep decline in crime-solving has occurred while California's spending on law enforcement agencies has risen sharply, even after adjustments for inflation and population growth, said the report.
California spent 27 billion U.S. dollars on police in 2021, more than ever before and an increase of more than 250 percent since 1985, after accounting for inflation. In 2022, the total spending on law enforcement was roughly 25.5 billion dollars, according to the report.
California's police are receiving record-high per-capita funding, the report said. From 1990 to 2022, Californians' per-capita spending on law enforcement rose by 52 percent in constant, inflation-adjusted dollars.
The report also pointed out that spending on law enforcement has far outstripped population growth. Real spending per capita went from 399 dollars in 1985 to 651 dollars in 2022, an increase of more than 60 percent.
Based on data from the California Department of Justice and the State Controller's Office, the report aims to counter what the CJCJ calls "misinformation in national and local media" that California is "defunding the police" or "soft on crime." ■
