Los Angeles Metro logged crime decrease in 2017

In 2017, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) logged a 9 percent year-over-year decrease in "Part 1" crimes across its system.

Part 1 crimes are the most serious offenses, such as homicides, rapes and robberies.

Also last year, the agency recorded a 32 percent decline in "Part 2" crimes, which include less serious offenses like trespassing, vandalism and battery.

The results follow the adoption of Metro's multi-agency policing contract in July 2017. Under the agreement, the Long Beach and Los Angeles police departments joined the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in patrolling Metro's system.

From July 2017 through January this year, Part 1 crimes plummeted 42.4 percent, while Part 2 crimes fell 25.5 percent.

January's crime figures alone show "positive trends continuing," Metro officials wrote in a blog. In particular, Part 1 crimes on rail fell 11.5 percent in January compared with the same month in 2017.

"We're pleased to see these numbers, but we’re also not going to stand pat," said Alex Wiggins, chief of Metro's System Security and Law Enforcement Division. "We know that we still have work to do — we want to tighten up our fare enforcement and work to mitigate the adverse impacts of homelessness, which is a big regional issue."

Metro's board approved the security agreement in February 2017.