PUBLIC SAFETY
SITUATION:
LA City seems to be in search of new use, organization, & utilization of Police.
People or officials who can solve problems do NOT seem to be talking to each other.
Activists claim LA Police Commission are apologists not overseers of Police.
Blaming Commission Chair, William Briggs, of lackluster leadership.
SIGNIFICANCE:
Police Commission says not enough police officers; Activists say too many.
Do Not Think Oversight Panel & Briggs are up to pulling things together.
Activists claim Police Commission are apologists not overseers of Police.
LAPD not defunded- Actually, Dept size shrunk by nearly 500 officers in 2021.
Specialized units cut in favor of patrol & community-oriented teams.
SOLUTIONS:
Create Public Safety Department with Police & all City services under one roof.
implementation of [Community Safety Partnership model of policing? Status?
Could produce greater reduction in crime than the traditional forms of policing.
Need to reorganize City Government functions from top to bottom in LA.
Do not defund LA Police; Rather adopt & institute “City Public Safety” Dept.
Consider re-allocation of Police funding to social service functions.
Public Safety organized around a community needs & citizens—from bottom up.
Expand Mental Health Evaluation Units that pairs officers & clinicians.
Officers would work the same neighborhoods & get know residents, gain trust.
Add more officers in LAPD Community Safety Partnership Bureau.
Police, Social Services, Emergency, All departments working for/in same neighborhood.
Increase number of black male & female officers in public safety department.
City should form a Community Safety Partnership of all departments.
STATS:
LAPD force dropped 500 to 9,500 officers after George Floyd’s death.
SEZ:
“Let me be perfectly clear where I stand—I do not agree with the defund the police notion:– William Briggs, President, LA Police Dept Civilian Oversight Panel
“I was more interested in parsing responses that showed less police trust among youth and in low-income communities” — Commissioner Lou Calanche
WHO CAN TAKE ACTION TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?
1)William Briggs. President, LAPB Civilian Oversight Panel
wjbriggs@Venable.com
2) Paula Minor. Black Lives Matter [Can’t Find email address]
3) Commissioner Lou Calanche
4) LEGACY LA
(323) 987-8367
lucy@legacyla.org
5) Lucy Herrera
Director of Leadership and Community Engagement at Legacy LA
6) Commissioner Steve Soboroff – n4967@lapd.lacity.org
7) Commission President Eileen Decker n6220@lapd.online
SOURCES:
L.A. Police Commission appoints new president, who promptly rejects ‘defund’ movement- https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-27/l-a-police-commission-new-president-no-defund
