For a year, I collected the positions broadcast by the LAPD’s helicopter fleet. The resulting 20.9 million points show where helicopters spend their time, where they tend to circle rather than pass through, and how unevenly that time is distributed across Los Angeles.
Officers wrote 53.1% of the 3,908,113 records in the LAPD’s Calls for Service data since January 2024, most of them Code 6 entries logging that they were already at a scene.
Volunteers have mapped 2,190 Flock license plate readers across Los Angeles County’s 88 cities. Per square mile, the City of Los Angeles ranks 67th, far behind both Beverly Hills and Compton.
Forty-two cities buy their patrol from the Sheriff, under a budget unit the county budgets at zero net cost. It closed each of the past two fiscal years in surplus, while patrol in unincorporated areas ran a $22 million deficit.
MapThe Crime MapCompare recorded incidents by reporting district and year, 2010 to 2026, using consistent offense categories across LAPD’s 2024-25 reporting change.
MapLA’s Worst IntersectionsEvery collision LAPD recorded from 2010 to 2020, placed on the corner it happened at. Drag the slider from the worst ten corners to the worst ten thousand.
MapThe Calls MapThe 3,025,845 LAPD calls for service since January 2024 that carry a reporting district. Most of them are not calls from the public at all.
MapThe Helicopter MapA year of observed LAPD helicopter positions, drawn as accumulated time in the air. No basemap underneath: the street grid is drawn only by the flight tracks.
