As the Senior Lead Officer for the NoHo Arts District area in North Hollywood, I am responsible for knowing the crime issues, working together with various city departments, and using other city resources available to help reduce or eliminate criminal activity. While no area is completely crime free, we have seen a continuous decrease in overall crime for the last few years.

Compared to last year, violent crime has decreased 17 percent and property crime has decreased 8 percent, year to date. Overall crime in North Hollywood is down 9 percent year to date.

These are incredible crime reduction numbers and honestly, it's surprising. I often say the continuous decrease in crime has to end soon. It's just a matter of time before we begin to see an increase due to factors that we as a police department have no control over. Factors include the economy, unemployment, the early release of people on parole and probation, budgetary issues and the inability of the police department to really grow as needed. All this would make a reasonable person assume that crime should be on the rise, but surprisingly-it is not.

I can't explain the continuous decrease in crime in the North Hollywood area other than to say it's a direct result of the hard work of all the men and women of the North Hollywood Police Department and the outstanding working relationship we share with our community members.

Thank you.

If you have any questions or concerns, please direct them to Officer Catalano at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it