Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), in cooperation with Local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies, have joined forces to address a spike in violent gang crime in LAPD’s South Bureau and Newton Area.
On Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at 10 a.m., at the Jesse A. Brewer, 77th Street Regional Police Headquarters Chief William J. Bratton and members of his Command Staff, along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a host of Dignitaries from other Local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies, held a news conference to discuss gang crime, and the multi-agency initiative to address an emerging trend.
Crime rates in the City have been on the decline for eight continuous years. Even in Operations-South Bureau and Operations-Central Bureau where a spike in violent crime has been detected, crime is once again below last year’s levels. Under COMPSTAT, the fact that crime is down overall does not preclude the gathering of intelligence. When a spike is detected, we respond with effective tactics, rapid deployment, and relentless follow-up and assessment. In this case, because the trend is not tied to any specific gang feud or retaliation, the response is a more traditional presence in the area of the trend to prevent it from gaining momentum. Every agency will focus their expertise in an effort to protect the community.
Year-to-date, Criminal Gang Homicide Group (CGHG), which is responsible for investigating gang related homicides in 77th Street Area, Southwest Area, and Southeast Area, has investigated 74 homicides in 2009, compared to 82 in 2008. According to Deputy Chief Diaz, Commanding Officer, Operations-Central Bureau, year-to-date, Newton Area has investigated 24 homicides in 2009, compared to 30 in 2008. Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, Commanding Officer, Operations-South Bureau said, “We are sending a clear message and our record proves that if you commit a homicide in Operations-South Bureau or anywhere in the City, the overwhelming odds are that you will be caught, you will go to prison; but more than that, every spike in crime is a clue for preventative measures.”
During the month of August 2009, CGHG investigated 18 homicides. With one more week left in August, there have been 6 more gang related homicides than during the entire previous month. Because crime is down overall, this “trend” could have been dismissed as a “blip” on the radar screen, but the leadership in Operations-South Bureau and Operations-Central Bureau saw it as an opportunity for prevention. “This is evidence of a philosophy that has permeated all levels of the Department” Chief Bratton said, adding that we are moving toward a “predictive” model of policing.
Chief Bratton noted, “Obstacles that would have previously prevented a multi-agency approach to combating crime have been overcome in advance of a spike in crime. The result is that now a simple phone call is all that is needed to pull together a task force literally overnight.” Blurred jurisdictional lines formerly used by criminals to disadvantage the community, have now been blurred by law enforcement to the distinct disadvantage of the gangs and other criminals.
It's going to get worse and these tactics won't work in all cases. the people implementing these tactics should ask people with field experience. Old School street tactics are whats going to win in the end. Uniform presence and OO crew writing little old ladies tickets is not going to prevent anything...Maybe just delay it.
Posted by: Woody | August 25, 2024 at 12:20 PM
How are you being proactive to something that has already happened??? Oh, and how's that financial disclosure working out???
They will work it out in Comstat I am sure.
Posted by: Street cop | August 25, 2024 at 03:37 PM
Bring back Operation Hammer for a two week period and lets see the new stats. Baca will have to make a lot of room in his jail for all the arrests made.
Posted by: Jim Reed | August 26, 2024 at 08:59 AM
Command staff telling officers in roll call not to "chase anyone unless they are a murder suspect" (guess you have to check the pulse) is a great way to implement curbing gang violence.
Posted by: Lucky | August 26, 2024 at 09:16 AM
On a side note, I am so tired of hearing guys like woody. The group of self-admitted old school guys who start every conversation with, when I was in the academy.......or when I was on probation. Give me a brake. Crime seems to be down. I bet Woody doesn't even have a service stripe and rides the coat tails of other people's war stories or he is just bitter about being in patrol and not being qualified to be selected for a specialized position. I know it seems like a joke but if crime is down, it is, and we shouldn't question how it is done because in the end it affects the people who live in the crime infested areas and they are seeing the benefits of our hard work.
Posted by: Jack | August 26, 2024 at 12:20 PM
Well Jack I kind of agree with you, because I can picture what you mean when you describe Woody. Is crime really down? I mean, I'm not saying that there isn't a difference in the numbers, but just because you had 2 murders one year and now you only have 1 the next,someone is still dead. I'm not being unreasonable, but there are alot of people being victimized out there. ALOT.I can't believe that it is safer now than it was 50 years ago. Or what does the mayor and the chief keep comparing it to? I dont know, all I do know is that there are still plenty of victims, and I don't think it does them any justice to keep saying that crime is down. Its a number game. There was a division that told its officers to take non criminal reports when they came in contact with a robbery that was one vs one and the PR/Vict was drunk. All that does is play with the numbers. Someone was still robbed, drunk or not, cooperative or not, a robbery is still a robbery. Its all politics and status for anyone at a rank higher than Sgt. This City is too big and diverse to ever really change. There are alot of factors, but its only going to get worse.
Woody:
OO might be giving tickets, but they're out there trying to do a job as neww POII's. They are gonna drop the ball, make mistakes, step on toes and be a little defensive, but we all know how a div can treat what they believe are outsiders.
So in closing it is'nt a perfect world, it will only get worse, all we have to do is remember why we put on our uniform, try to do the job to the best of our individual abilities and navigate through the endless supply of incompetance that the dept calls Supervisors....Stay ready, get home tonight, don't sacrifice what you believe in, and don't be afraid to step out onto the ledge for what you know in your heart is right. And next time you see a young OO copper, giving the wrong person a ticket..Talk to him or her and school them on who needs to be targeted and why.
Posted by: Satisfy me pls | August 27, 2024 at 02:30 AM
Satisfy me pls.... BRAVO!
Posted by: Ed O'Shea | August 27, 2024 at 09:06 AM
o.k...I must not have phrased my comments correctly...My criticism certainly isn't againt OO crew officers..It's the policy implemented. Drowning a division in officers does not work by itself. It delays gang crime not stop it. Feet on the street intel based enforcement does.
Jack..sorry your offended, but I've seen how the different styles work and vary. Yes, from my different specialized unit assignments including GED and CRASH.
Posted by: Woody | August 27, 2024 at 04:51 PM
first....Woody Pls change your name...I do beleive in some of the things Woody has to say, I'll stop short of saying that it is going to getr worse.
Jack:
If you disagree just say that you disagree. You shouldn't just throw insults and assume that you know Woody or his resume.
We know that things are slower nowadays, but gang crime is picking up...squash it now or it could get out of control
Posted by: Stevens | August 27, 2024 at 10:03 PM
In my 15 years i can say crime is down. Yes numbers can be worked, but I do believe some crime reports should not be taken and instances with drunk PR's with a questionable robbery should be an assigned incident report to verify if it had actually occurred.
I can also say that the LAPD takes more reports then any other police department I know of. I have seen my share of crime reports, that based on law an common sense should never be taken. As far as violent crime I can only look at the homicide rate and as a homicide detective I can tell you for sure they are down by huge margins from the time I came on.
I believe saturation works to a point but officers need to not go for the numbers but make themselves very visible and of coarse intelligence is how crime is solved. Officers need to spend more time questioning, interrogating and debriefing instead of booking for any bull PC section and never talking to the suspects. I wish it would change and I do my part to lead by example and teach from experience as much as I can. Im sure their are others doing the same but it is needed more. Good luck out there
Posted by: Detective | September 01, 2024 at 01:59 PM
COMPSTAT is the worst thing the LAPD has ever created.... while the gathering and use of statistics is good... it's the officers worst enemy (by officers I mean those working the streets.. patrol or specialized) because you have your smarty pants OIC asking for numbers..numbers.. numbers.. that you should change report titles because "too many BMFV will look terrible in my COMPSTAT meeting."
Posted by: Nameless | September 19, 2024 at 04:58 AM