Murder, Robbery Head List as L.A. Crime Rises 8.2% : Violence: The increase was spurred by drug trafficking, police say. A department spokesman calls the level of major offenses intolerable.

Robbery and murder led an 8.2% spurt in major crimes in Los Angeles last year, a level of lawbreaking and violence--spurred by narcotics trafficking--that a Police Department spokesman described as intolerable.

The department’s summary of crimes committed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 last year reports that 324,486 major crimes were committed in the city, compared to 299,910 for the same period in 1988.

“Crime is at an intolerable level here, just as it is in major cities across the nation,” police spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said.

Robberies zoomed 18.7%, totaling 30,705 in 1989, compared to 25,863 in 1988.

The number of homicides--up 17.2%--totaled 873 last year, compared to 745 in 1988. There were 834 murders in 1987.

Booth blamed illegal drugs for exacerbating the crime problem.

Police Department analysis indicates that narcotics trafficking is involved in about half of the murders, robberies, burglaries and aggravated assaults, he said.

Rape was down slightly in the city during 1989, when compared to the year before. Police reported 1,993 sexual assaults last year, a 0.3% drop from the 1,999 rapes recorded in 1988.

In other categories of major crimes, the department reported that aggravated assaults rose from 38,102 in 1988 to 43,647 in 1989, an increase of 12.7%; burglaries from homes and businesses were up by 0.3% from 51,006 in 1988 to 51,182 last year; thefts from automobiles were up 4.7% from 13,891 in 1988 to 14,549 in 1989, and thefts from persons dropped 0.2% from 4,739 to 4,645.

Crime increased in all of the LAPD’s divisions in 1989, but Rampart Division recorded the highest jump, with a 19.9% hike in overall lawbreaking. The number of murders there climbed from 62 in 1988 to 105 last year.

Central Division downtown reported a 0.7% increase in crime, the lowest in the city.

Despite last year’s statistics, however, Booth offered hope for the 1990s. The public is “very aroused and very aware” of the problems created by drugs, he said. “In the 1990s, we are going to get a handle on narcotics problems.”

Booth noted that last year the LAPD erected barricades around a square-mile section of the Pico-Union area near MacArthur Park and stationed uniformed officers at most street entrances in an effort to rid the area of drug dealers.

Lt. Andy Cicioria, head of the homicide detail at Rampart, estimated it will be several months before police know whether drug sales will be affected by blocking off streets in the division.

Booth said that, if recruiting proceeds as planned, the LAPD, which is authorized to have 8,414 uniformed officers by the middle of this year, will grow to a force of 10,000 in three years.