When an American uses the phrase "murder capital" to describe a city, it tends to be cities with periods of very sad history like Chicago or Los Angeles, but I'll bet you've never heard anyone say East Palo Alto in that sentence.

In 1992 the murder rate in East Palo Alto was the highest in the country, but today, 31 years later, the rate has fallen significantly.

How significantly? Try 100%.

Now called the safest city on the peninsula, East Palo Alto is located on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Mateo County between Palo Alto and the big tech centers of the nation.

In 1992 there were 42 homicides out of a population of just 24,000 people. The majority-black city suffered as black neighborhoods did all across the country from the crack cocaine epidemic, but after initial action to increase the police presence, an all-hands-on-deck approach from local nonprofits, faith-based groups, neighborhood watch organizations, and what few business leaders there were eventually saw the number plummet down to single digits even while drug sales continued to flourish.

One innovative tactic was from a neighborhood watch-type organization called "Just Us" that would frequent street corners and copy the license plates of any car that came to buy drugs. The police would then find the owner of the car, and simply write them a strongly worded letter letting them know that their car was recorded in a high-crime, high-drug use area.

Once of these letters, the LA Times reports, arrived at the desk of a city judge, whose son as it turns out was using the judge's car to buy crack.

"East Palo Alto has always been a resilient community. People there are really concerned and care about the community where they live," Sharifa Wilson, the city mayor during these troubled years, told the Times.

"The fact that we were labeled the homicide capital gave us an attention that we needed, and then we took that attention and turned it into something positive," she added. "If you give us lemons, we're gonna make lemonade."

Following 1992, the city closed out the decade with only one year where homicides climbed back into the teens, while between 2000 and 2023, the city averaged about 7 excluding 2005 which was noticeably higher. But every life is precious, and the city kept on trying to improve conditions for kids in low-income households and improve economic opportunities for their parents.

Now, 30 years after that fateful label of murder capital, the city ended a whole calendar year without a single homicide.

"We've always had at least one, and to reach zero is just such a monumental achievement for our whole community," said Police Chief Jeff Liu, who said he texted the whole force on New Year's Eve to celebrate.

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