This report seems to run counter to a July story at Crosstown regarding violent crime just in Los Angeles. Data from the Los Angeles Police Department at the time said the city logged 402 slayings in 2021, 382 homicides in 2022, and—at the time of the report—145 murders during the first half of this year. But this just covers a single city. California is a big place.
In San Francisco, according to Police Department data, there were 40 slayings as of Oct. 1, which is on par with the same period in 2022.