Crime Down in LA? The Inconvenient Truth...

While the media headlines Chief Bratton and Mayor Villaraigosa's claims of their successes in reducing crime in LA, the rest of us know better. We see more and more ugly gang graffiti everywhere. As soon as it's painted over, it's back again.

Ask any expert on gangs and they'll tell you that gang graffiti is like an earthquake seismograph, it's a clear sign of what' is actually going on. And the clear sign here is that the gangs are getting bigger, bolder and more at ease in showing their colors, while the Mayor and his followers glad hand each other and try to palm us off with massaged statistics.

Mayoral candidate Walter Moore, a man who isn't afraid of confronting inconvenient truths, wrote a stunning analysis of the true state of crime in LA. I urge you to read it, then contrast what Mr. Moore says with what the Mayor says, or rather doesn't say.

The true statistics published by Chief Bratton show that you and I are almost twice as likely to be murdered here in LA, than if we lived in what was once the murder capitol of the USA; New York City. Yes, the murder rate in Los Angeles is 51% higher than that of New York City. Surely that should be a headline?

The fact is that in the City of Los Angeles, with a population of 4 million, there were 381 murders last year, that's 95.3 per million Los Angelenos. In New York City, with a population of 8.2 million, there were 514 murders in the same period, that's 62.7 per million New Yorkers. Do the math yourself, please don't trust me or Walter Moore. The murder rate in Los Angeles is 51% higher that New York City. Why?

Well we all know why. While we all know that Los Angeles is seriously under policed when compared to New York, and while Mayor Villaraigosa claims he's committed to increasing the number of cops in LA, the facts are wildly opposite to the Mayor's claims. Instead of hiring more cops, he increased his personal staff from 70 to 93 this year. 23 more aides to carry his bottled water, marker pens, pads and his Listerine breath strips.

As Mayor Villaraigosa's personal staff swelled by 23 more acolytes, the Mayor and his lap-dog in waiting, Jack Weiss, applauded a reduction of 26 cops on Westside so that they could be deployed at a new police station. The new police station in Koreatown had been built at a cost of $25M, but no money had been set aside for hiring cops to staff it, so they pulled vitally needed cops from the Westside.

All it would have taken is for the Mayor to suffer the inconvenience "only" having 70 personal assistants, and hired 23 cops to staff the new Koreatown police station. But, the Mayor and Weiss are determined to move on to being Governor and Attorney General, so they need aides more than we need cops.

In the meantime, we have to live (or die) with the inconvenient truth. The Mayor and the person he (only he) wants as his City Attorney, Jack Weiss, are more concerned with their political aspirations than public safety.

On March 3, 2009, you will have a chance to tell Weiss and Villaraigosa what you think of their abysmal lack of commitment to public safety. I urge you; vote Moore for Mayor, and Berger for City Attorney and let's put a stop to pretend play politics.

More on Thursday's Town Hall Meeting

When I spoke to Chief Braton at the Town Hall meeting on the planned reduction in police services to the Westside, I told him I was a huge fan of his, but that after he heard what I had to say, he might not be a fan of mine!

The Chief took it well, but would not budge from his position; he will not delay opening the new police stations, and that means 26 less police officers on the Westside.

I was not alone in condemning the politicians who have allowed this potentially disastrous state of affairs to exist. Richard G. Cohen, chair of the Pacific Palisades Community Council spoke passionately and directly to the Chief, demanding a change in this plan, pointing out that valuable Westside property was being put at risk, and challenging the "7 minute response time" claimed by Chief Bratton.

Another critic of Bratton's plan was Jay Handal of the West LA Chamber of Commerce, and owner of the San Gennaro Cafe. Jay's had first hand experience of the risks faced by Westside residents; he was robbed at gunpoint at his Brentwood restaurant. Jay also disputed LAPD's "7 minute response time," and was one of many in the crowded meeting to condemn Jack Weiss and other elected officials for spending $50M on two new police stations while lacking the foresight to provide funding to staff them.

The hero of the evening? My vote goes to Bill Rosendahl, Councilmember for City District 11, who had the guts to face the public and let them have their say.

Needless to say, Jack Weiss, Councilmember for City District 5, who has spoken in favor of the planned reduction in police services, and whose residents are equally at risk, was not at the meeting. He was too busy fundraising with Ron Galperin, who hopes to take over from Weiss in the March election.

Anyone who thinks Jack Weiss is suitable for the Office of City Attorney needs to listen to the outright public condemnation of his imperious, unaccountable and out of touch style of candidacy.

Poor City Leadership Causes Westside To Lose 26 Cops

Last night (Thursday, December 11, 2008) I attended a Town Hall meeting hosted by Councilmember Bill Rosendahl (CD11) where guest speaker LAPD Chief William Bratton tried his best to justify his reasons for pulling 26 officers away from the Westside to staff 2 new police stations, set to open in January 2009.

I won't bore you with the details, but the following facts were established:

1) The City Council approved the construction of two new police stations, but did not even think about how they would staff those police stations.

2) The only way that Chief Bratton can staff those new police stations is to take officers away ("harvesting" as he described it) from existing duties. In chosing where to "harvest" cops, Bratton selected areas of Los Angeles where violent crime is lower than other areas, i.e. the Westside.

3) LAPD is in the process of hiring the 1,000 extra cops that are supposed to be funded by the City as as a result of the trash tax. As of December 2009, 550 have been hired, but all are still in training. Bratton expects the new cops to be available for deployment in "3 to 6 months."

Given the above, wouldn't it be sensible to postpone opening these two police stations until the newly trained cops can fill the void?

I asked Chief Bratton that very question, and his response boils down to this:

a) He's not goinging to mothball these two stations, and

b) If he did mothball them, he believes that the City Council will keep them closed so as to avoid having to hire more cops.

c) He's going ahead and cutting police services to the Westside, and if you want to blame anyone, blame the City's elected officials.

Now that's a fine state of affairs, isn't it?