CommentsRANTZ & RAVEZ-I attended the LAPD Mounted Unit open house last Saturday at their headquarters near Griffith Park and listened to the mounted unit officers discuss their unique and specialized ability to ride a horse in a major metropolitan city with traffic congestion, pedestrians and other serious hazards. The expertise of these mounted officers is impressive, to say the least. The well-trained and experienced officers and horses serve an important function in crowd control during special events and in patrolling high crime areas. When you see the mounted officers, stop and let them know you appreciate their service.
At the Open House, I discussed the current crime trends with Chief Charlie Beck and Assistant Chief Michael Moore. I mentioned how I use the Department’s COMPSTAT Citywide Crime Profile in reporting Los Angeles crime trends in my RantZ&RaveZarticles. Both men informed me that crime has been reduced and that the situation of public safety has improved, something I told them I would report in my next article. Well, here is the most current information.
As of March 3, 2018, the LAPD reports having 10,057 sworn officers on the Department. This is a significant increase over previous years and a positive for police recruitment. I have read numerous articles about the lack of qualified police candidates throughout California. In fact, some departments are now offering a signing bonus and other incentives to qualified candidates.
As far as the crime stats are concerned, the comments from the Chiefs are correct. But arrests are another story. As of March 17, 2018, the numbers are impressive when comparing 2016 to 2018 crime stats.
Violent Crimes
This category includes Homicide, Rape, Robbery and Aggravated Assaults.
All categories are down except Robbery which has an increase of +3.8%. Overall Total Violent Crime is down -4.9%.
Property Crimes
This category includes Burglary, Motor Vehicle Theft, Burglary Theft from Motor Vehicle, Personal/Other Theft. Overall Total Property Crime is down except Burglary Theft from Vehicle which is up by +2.7%.
Total Part 1 is down -3.2%.
Arrests
The categories that show an increase or reduction in arrests are as follows:
Homicide: +40.7%
Rape: -13%
Robbery: +0.8%
Aggravated Assault: -2.6%
Burglary: -10.6%
Larceny: -21.7%
Motor Vehicle Theft: +14.3%
Total Violent: -1.2%
Total Part 1:-6.4%
Total All Arrests: -18.5%
They say statistics reveal the truth. As far as public safety in Los Angeles is concerned, there are improvements in the reduction of crime, but the apprehension of those committing crimes has not shown a significant improvement. With total arrests reduced by -18.5 %, there is a lot of room for improvement in the apprehension of suspects.
Specialized Police equipment for unusual situations
In 2014, President Obama issued a directive that certain specialized military equipment should not be used by civilian law enforcement agencies. Various military items were removed from police departments and returned to the Federal Government following that directive. President Trump reinstated the policy of distributing specialized military equipment to local police agencies throughout America that is the current policy.
In my personal observation, in tactical situations in the City of Los Angeles and other communities with armed and other combative suspects, specialized equipment is necessary to ensure the safety of the public and of law enforcement personnel during the infrequent incidents involving well-armed suspects.
Years ago, I was at the North Hollywood Bank of America shootout. I remember officers going to a local gun store (B&B) and obtaining specialized weapons to confront the two suspects who were armed with automatic weapons and firing on officers and everything else in sight. A Brink’s armored truck was used to rescue officers who were injured and unable to get to a place of safety. While this situation does not happen routinely, it has and can happen at any time.
Now we have Assembly Bill 3131 introduced by Assemblyman Todd Gloria from San Diego. It calls for police agencies to obtain explicit approval from a city council or other local governing body if they want to obtain any military-grade equipment for their departments. It also calls for the State Attorney General to compile a list of police departments that have such equipment across California.
Either we trust in the police agencies that are here to protect and serve all of us…or we don’t.
This bill is another example of how the California State Legislature spends and often wastes its time, energy and funds to govern the state. Combine this with so many other senseless bills and activities in Sacramento, and you can see why our roads continue to deteriorate, the homeless numbers continue to grow, and our taxes continue to increase.
(Dennis P. Zine is a former and retired LAPD Supervisor, former and retired 12-year Los Angeles City Councilman and current General Manager at Bell Canyon in Ventura County. He is a candidate for the upcoming Assembly District 45 election.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
