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DEEGAN ON LA—What do copper and cops have in common? Each has shortages that are significant for these two important public safety resources.
The city does not have enough working streetlights because of copper wire thievery, and not enough cops because of the reluctance of some politicos to maintain or even grow force strength.
Both issues will go before the public in the upcoming elections.
Mayoral candidates will be debating the LAPD question; homeowners will have to decide if they’re willing to pay an additional tax to re-light dark neighborhoods.
Both solutions will cost money, with the mayor in the middle of each. Safe, well lighted neighborhoods could be the single most personal issue for voters. Its a safety issue everyone can relate to.
On March 26, 2026, Mayor Bass signed Executive Directive No. 18 entitled Solar Street Lights Initiative to Reverse L.A.’s Decade-Long Repair Backlog and Build a Safer, More Sustainable Los Angeles.
An epidemic of copper wire theft coupled with a decade-long backlog in repairs has left tens of thousands of streetlights out across the city. Dark streets and blacked out neighborhoods are an invitation to trouble. Public safety is the collective victim.
Homeowners will be asked in a special ballot on June 2 to vote in favor of advancing a plan that would tax them slightly with proceeds going to the lighting plan. The current homeowner assessment, frozen since 1976, is $53 annually. The proposed increase will raise that to $117. That’s a $5.33 per month increase.
While funding for street light infrastructure has remained unchanged since 1996, there has been a 1,200% increase in copper wire theft in the last 10 years, according to the mayor’s directive.
She adds that there are currently 32,000 street light service requests. Repairs caused by copper wire theft can cost at least 4-times more than standard maintenance. L.A. operates more than 220,000 streetlights citywide – an estimated 60,000 are eligible to be converted to solar.
The solar streetlights conversion plan is what makes this work.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky (CD5) pushed for solar lights before the executive directive was announced.
The Councilmember told CityWatchLA that “We need to treat public safety as a system. That means a well-staffed, accountable police department, and it means investing in faster 911 response, alternative crisis teams, and the infrastructure people rely on every day. Fixing our streetlights is a key part of that. I worked with Councilmember Hernandez to pass a citywide solar streetlight strategy using debt financing so we can scale installations faster, and my office partnered with Councilmember Traci Park to fund a dedicated streetlight repair crew serving Districts 5 and 11. If we want safer streets, we need to fix the basics and invest across the entire system.”
Cops on the beat is the other public safety concern. While they are not on the ballot LAPD is at the center of the conversation about public safety and the rising fear that we may not have enough police strength for a city our size.
The current city budget freezes the headcount but not the need.
Two of the mayoral candidates, incumbent Mayor Bass and challenger Councilmember Nithya Raman (CD4) have differing approaches to LAPD staffing, with Bass pushing for increases and restoration.
Raman has swung from “defunding LAPD” in 2020 when she first ran for the CD4 seat advocating for maintaining current levels…now that she is running for mayor in 2026.
The policing philosophy of Bass focuses on public safety through increased staffing. It’s her top service priority. Projecting force and a visible presence.
Raman’s philosophy calls for “civilianizing”—no uniforms, no guns, but a badge—for unarmed responses to nonviolent calls. Not taken into consideration with this plan is how the visual of a cop in a uniform with a gun on their belt can be a deterrent. Like the way cops patrol neighborhoods to project public safety.
Bass wants to stop the shrinking of the LAPD and restore staffing levels of 9,500 officers.
To do that the mayor Bass plans to hire 510 new officers to keep the force at roughly 8,500–8,700 now and the next several hundred recruits joining the ranks as we approach the Olympics in 2028.
Both issues are ones that whoever wins the mayoral contest will need to deal with.
(Tim Deegan is a longtime civic activist and columnist whose Deegan on LA feature has been a staple of CityWatchLA for over a decade. With a focus on Los Angeles city politics and neighborhood issues, Deegan brings thoughtful analysis and grassroots perspective to every column. His work highlights the voices of local communities and the impact of City Hall decisions on everyday Angelenos. He can be reached at [email protected].)
