The sounds of engines gunning and rubber squealing have caused a nightly cacophony for parts of Los Angeles since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a veritable epidemic of street racing and street takeovers seemed to wash over our freeways and traffic intersections in the last three years.
But just as many of our masks have fallen to the wayside in the last six months, so has street racing, according to a new report prepared for the Board of Police Commissioners, which shows a 36% reduction in takeover and racing reports in 2022.
NBC details how in 2021, the overall number of complaints about takeovers and racing from the public declined from 7,654 in 2021 to 4,899 in 2022, though it is noted that these may not be separate calls but multiple calls about the same incidents.
Still, the police report does counter many Angeleno's suspicions that the problem is growing, including an August 2022 Los Angeles Magazine article that claimed "Street Takeovers In L.A. Are Growing More Frequent and More Violent" in a sensationalistic headline, as well as in other local media reports.
Another finding is that the street takeovers and racing appear to have gravitated into different neighborhoods over that same period, with complaints typically being made about incidents in the Downtown area and around South L.A., which saw a 22% increase in reports.