LAPD: Shuttle trek may have cut crime

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday the space shuttle Endeavour's high-profile trip through downtown may have helped reduce crime in the city.

The shuttle's trek from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center in downtown LA drew crowds estimated at 1 million. Beck told the Police Commission crime rates in the city during the weekend were the lowest they had been in months.

The chief said the public's behavior along the shuttle's 12-mile route was problem free.

"I maybe have never been involved in policing a crowd that was so positive and so proud," he said.

Although Beck stopped short of attributing the crime rate drop to the shuttle phenomenon, he said "having a community that is involved, energized, and has mutual goals" may have played a role in what the Times called a relative calm in Los Angeles during the weekend.