Chief's Message - Feb 2010

Chief's Message for January 2010 was not produced.

Year End Crime Stats

As we begin a new decade we can be proud of our past.  Thanks to the hard work of all of you, sworn and civilian, we have set a historic and unprecedented standard of eight years of crime decline.  As the country and the City of Los Angeles is faced with a difficult economic recovery and the many challenges and tough choices in balancing the City budget, we have been able to drive crime down, particularly gang crime. 

The result of your strategic work is reflected in the 2009 year end crime numbers.  Again last year, you made a difference and saved lives.  There were 314 homicides, an 18.01% decrease from the 2008 total of 383.  Last year, violent crime was down 10.8%, property crimes decreased 8.0% and Part I Crimes fell 8.6%.  That’s 10,864 fewer victims of crime.  In addition, there were 323 fewer shooting victims this year in comparison to the same time period a year ago. 

Many scholars, industry experts and critics would try to attribute the decline to several factors other than cops.  But the cause and reason for the decline in crime is clear, it is you and your commitment and dedication to the people of all the communities we protect and serve.  This successful result is undeniable proof that LAPD personnel, both sworn and civilian, do not have a lack of strength, a lack of talent or a lack of will.

Again, particularly impressive is your success in battling gangs in their attempts to dominate community life in Los Angeles.  You have been able to stop the motives and mode of operation of street gangs in nearly every category, reducing gang homicides by 15.6%, aggravated assaults by 9.5%, shooting victims by 15.1%, and decrease gang crime overall by 11.2% since 2008. 

Reorganization

As your Chief, I have begun the process of strategically reorganizing the Department.  One of my goals is to streamline internal and external communications.  I have reduced the number of direct reports to the Office of the Chief of Police from 8 to 6 and will focus on consolidating entities that perform like functions, which include the Office of Operations, the Office of Special Operations, the Office of Administrative Services, Professional Standards Bureau, Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing and the Chief of Staff.  This allows the Department to be more efficient and coordinated and will allow for more fiscal responsibility. 

I have begun to fulfill my promise of returning people to the field from specialized units.  I started in my own office by taking a Captain and Lieutenant position and returning them to field assignments.  This was followed by the dismantling of the Crime Reduction and Enforcement of Warrants or “CREW” Task Force which allows the 144 officers to be assigned to patrol.

Goals

An effective leader will tell you that in order to reach a goal you must have a plan, otherwise you just have a thought.  As individuals our quality is reflected in the standards we set for ourselves. While I have established specific goals for 2010, much of what I expect of you is best practices in policing that we have worked hard to ingrain in the culture of our organization over the past several years.  The goals and objectives by which I will hold you and myself accountable are; Constitutional Policing; Crime Reduction; Prevention of Terrorist Incidents; Maintaining the Personnel Strength of the Department; and Employee Wellness.

Constitutional Policing – Even though we have been released from judicial oversight of the Federal Consent Decree we are still responsible to police in a constitutional manner.  We must never break the law in order to enforce the law.  To do so brings shame on our profession and alienates the people we serve, the community on whose cooperation we depend if we are to be effective.  No officer is justified in breaking the law on the grounds of expediency.

Crime Reduction – This is the true measure of our strategic hard work; keeping the people of Los Angeles safe and helping to provide quality of life.  Our crime reduction initiatives have been tested and proven to be successful.  We will continue our success as it is our new standard.

Prevention of Terrorist Incidents – The Los Angeles Police Department is at the forefront of a nationwide effort to evolve local police counter-terrorism strategies and capabilities and protect the City of Los Angeles from acts of terrorism.  The mission is to Prevent terrorism by effectively sharing information aimed at disrupting terrorist’s operational capability and addressing the underlying causes associated with the motivational component; to Protect the public and critical infrastructure by leveraging private sector resources and hardening targets; to Pursue terrorists and those criminal enterprises that support them; and to Prepare the citizenry and the city government for consequences associated with terrorists operations against the city.

Maintaining the Personnel Strength of the Department – We are all being asked to do more with less - less work time, fewer resources and a reduced workforce.  We are going through tough economic times and I know your workload, especially for those in our civilian workforce, has increased.   My goal is to do all I can to work with our city leaders to maintain the strength of the Department.  I encourage each and every one of you to make it your priority to maintain a quality work ethic.  We are all very busy and I want to make sure we are all accomplishing our goals.

Employee Wellness – To get our work done everyone has to show up to roll call and to their desks in good health.  Not taking care of your physical and mental well being will show, and it will carry into our work productivity.  It is highly important that investigative, administrative and other sworn officers maintain a continuous physical regimen to ensure occupational requirements. 

Process over results
Policing is the only important profession in which process is always more important than results.  No one cares how a surgeon saves a life as long as the operation is a success.  In policing we must zealously guard the way we complete our tasks in order to maintain the most important asset of the organization, our credibility.

Comments

[Los Angeles Helicopter Tours]

LA police are the best in the US. I am especially glad to see the cooperation with the growing number of cyclists who live and ride in LA.

[Greg]

Hi Chief,

You are doing a great job so far. Recently in my division an officer had an accidental discharge while conducting a search of a yard.

The round went into the dirt.No injuries, just an error on the officers part to keep his finger off the trigger.

What struck me was the fact we had no less than 10 FID officers at the scene for a round that went into the dirt. This appeared to be extreme.

Had it been at night time all these detectives would been out there to conduct these interviews with the involved officer and a few heard only officers on ot basis.

This investigation took over 9 hours which appeared ridiculous. Seevral officers were ot for 9 plus hours and they were justifiably upset.

Can this somehow be streamlined based on the circumstances..

10 plus detectives for a round in the dirt and over 5 officers stuck on 9 hrs of ot and seperated..

Can we get back to using common sense when it comes to obvious simple mistakes and to quickly evaluate what happened and how many resources are needed to investigate ..

Even the FID guys were laughing about so much time and resources was being used.

thank you.

[Administrative assistant classes Los Angeles]

Many thanks chief,
you have done a great job and I am proud to say I'm from LA and that I support LAPD.

[Cleetus Van Damme]

I am a citizen of LA and also am a cop on another department and have a few questions. Why is it the LAPD has so many sworn officers doing admin. jobs instead of police work, like monitoring this blog? I have a lot of friends on the LAPD and I know that there are many officers who barely have any patrol time, many of these men and women promote. Just curious, because calls for service in the City of Los Angeles are notoriously SLOW to be responded to and many times way too late. I ask these questions because I work for a Department that doesn't have these issues and I feel the citizens deserve much better and it also really bothers me that my taxes keep going up yet the quality of law enforcement keeps going down.

[Justice]

Hello Mr. I really want to be a cop Damme. If you truly were a SWORN officer you would know that several administrative functions of any police department require patrol and law enforcement knowledge, in order to provide the public the best informed service. As for calls for service, last week just one bureau handled 3,180 calls for service in a seven day period and on an average the LAPD responds to 750,000 calls for service per year (115,000 emergency, 270,000 urgent and 365,000 routine) and the response times is always being looked at from several levels within LAPD. Now!!! We know what department you’re comparing yourself to however I'm at a loss, you say your department doesn’t have any issues. I wish I could live in Shangri-La so please tell me this great City and Police Department that you’re from…...Boy, I can hardly wait.

[Blu9ght]

Greg,
Our Department suffers from top-heavy syndrome. That's why lot's of folks elbow their way to inside jobs where making more money, and doing less is the focus. It does not require a genius to walk around with a note-pad taking notes or sketching a scene. It's either overkill or a mutual admiration society. I'm sure they could scale it down a bit without hurting the investigative process. Until someone takes a good look at the wasted dollars and sense, these folks will continue laugh all the way to the bank. Meanwhile many of us risk our lives on a daily basis for a lot less. Chief Beck, are you really paying attention?

[Cleetus Van Damme]

Justice,
Lose the chip on your shoulder and get a clue.

Everyone, except you it seems knows that calls for service on the LAPD are very slow, including many officers who work on your own department. I hate to hit you in the face with a little reality but contrary to what they teach you in your Academy, the LAPD is not considered to be such a great department among other Southern California departments who on occasion have the opportunity to work with the your department...(true story) I could bring up the two officers who were recently arrested by WPD for pistol whipping a victim or the May Day fiasco... I could go on. But I know these are isolated incidents and that most of the fine men and women who make up the ranks of the department aren't that way, but you need to humble yourself a bit and wake up to reality. Also, everyone except you know that due to the Consent Decree, the quality of many of the recruits on the LAPD has gone way down, so loose the attitude and get a clue.

[Justice]

Damme

Your ability to comprehend facts still defies logic and as for your references to some of the isolated incidents the Department has experienced, unlike yourself and others who might Monday night quarterback from a cozy non confrontational arm chair without knowing all the facts, the men and women of the LAPD are a group of individuals that train and are expected to use their better judgment in all situations even ones that they are unfamiliar with. FYI, the hiring process still receive 800 to 1200 applicants a month, of which for every 100 that pass the preliminary phases of the system approx. 3 will be hired. The ones that don’t get hired go on to try other agencies and usually bad mouth the LAPD. Are you one of these having some Haterade!!! The LAPD respects members from all agencies and shares all of what is learned from good and bad experiences so do yourself a favor and don’t be apprehensive in sharing what department you work for. You might just learn something.

[Cleetus Van Damme]

Just the name "Justice" suggests you're a very deep thinking and creative individual. And to have made it through such a rigorous application process, why you must be a real Super Cop!

Very impressive how you have all the stats on the hiring process down. Maybe that impresses Mummy & Daddy or your girlfriend if you even have one, but I know better. My guess is you're a rookie who's struggling to get through probation.

Let me clue you in again Son, applicants who don't get hired by the LAPD aren't in the position to bad mouth the department because they never worked for it and they would be told to shut up. I have friends on the department from Sgt's to P-2's who complain regularly of the things I spoke of and of the "new generation" of Academy graduates. Again, I'm not disparaging all, but a large amount of them, yourself included I would imagine who are lacking in the necassary skills to be a good cop. LAPD won't even roll to a TC when there are no injuries. What is that?

Again, I suggest you sit down and open your eyes, get a clue and in the mean time, stay away from the keyboard...

[Justice]

Damme, some of these friends you have on the LAPD must have been born with infinite wisdom and a gun in their hand instead of a pacifier. The reality is that unless someone is coming to any law enforcement agency with prior experience or military experience that person is going to be a boot period. They become what the academy training provides guided by POST, along with what many of us hope they posses, “common sense”.

Again you’ve skirted the part of what department you’re with, or perhaps you’re a make believe cop. Either way, if you are a cop you would be able to comprehend the basic concept that society and the current social fabric of all cities produce the poll of applicants for all agencies, corporations, companies or financial institutions.

Oh! And if you are a cop and think you can show a few cops how its done, I hear the Department has a lateral program which will suit you fine, but remember you have to have a real POST cert and come from a real police department not make believe.

Something tells me we’ll never hear what department you’re from!!!! Later Foolio

[Beach Comber]

Don't waste your energy replying to Mr. Van Damme. He's a cop in Manhattan Beach. When he's not putting his life on the line giving tickets to residents for not curbing their tires (an MB felony) he spends his off-duty time drinking at the bar, driving drunk and ramming his Corvette into the rear of some poor guy's car, then he flees the scene and ditches his smashed up vet in the parking lot of Manhattan Village Mall, and later has a few of his MBPD buddies cover it up with a false police report! The only place Van Damme and his corrupt little MBPD buddies will be lateraling to his prison!

[Justice]

Beach Comber, I wish to thank you for shedding light on this individual. You’re right, if he is involved as you say, then he’s headed down a path of wrong doing and consequences are inevitable.

[Mike Ball]

I work in a Traffic Assignment and wont say where. The Department needs to break up traffic divisions and send everyone back to a patrol division. Yes, every patrol officer and supervisor should attend the basic CI school. I am tired of hearing...."I need a T-Unit" unsat! Other departments roll no questions asked why they are well roundedly trained. The department has been setting itself up for failure, officers make u turns and avoid t/c's like the plague. I would hate to be in a t/c in LA as a citizen for that reason. Also, the supervision in traffic is a joke, these lazy supervisors go to traffic and hide because they dont want to handle UOF's or anything that a hard working P-2 or III gets in to. To LAPD Command Staff, make this Dept efficient. Stay Anonymous

[Jack]

well that is funny mr ball....I always hear the t-unit whining for an a-car because they forgot how to complete a basic pir. If you feel so strongly, what were you waiting for an invitation to put your 1.40 into a patrol division.......or maybe did you just come off the wheel and have no clue how police work is done. Must be nice to handle your one traffic radio call, head to starbucks to complete, and sit and whine with the mary units.

[Scott Stevens]

Mike Ball...
I have freinds who are Supervisore in traffic not because they choose to be, but because thats where they are wheeled to. They are friends who have experience in gangs, vice, narco, and years of patrol. Don't bad mouth. You may be right about traffic units being sent back to divisions, but on the same note, as a divisional supervisor I don't like hearing t-units requesting a patrol unit for a robbery report they were flagged down on..The door swings both ways.

[Curtis Lemanski]

Both Mr. Ball and Stevens have a point. This department has become way too specialized. As a P-1, I had FTOs who would run from DUIs and T/Cs. Consequently, I didn't learn these until the end of my probation (although they were signed off in my book).

T units run from "routine" citz flag downs just as the average patrol cop runs from T/C calls.

But back to the Cleetus Van Damme's post. I think he does have a point as well...although he loses credibility when he skewers the two Metro officers in the off-duty incident (more facts will surface, and I will not be surprised if the officers are 1. acquitted or charges dropped, 2. exonerated by the Department). At that point he became an LAPD hater.

We do have too many officers inside doing admin work. Go to 210 W. Temple much? How many officers are there just to ensure you stamp in and out on time? Dont forget there's a whole bunch of LAPD (sworn and PSRs) on the 7th and 17th floors...

I bet your training units are T/O'd for a Sgt II and maybe 1 officer...how many are there? How many sworn personnel are working in the captains' office (aside from the adjutant).

Bratton assessed the same thing when he arrived here at the beginning of his term. He tried to decentralize, started with the FES units and thats where it ended. Can't confirm, but I heard he started to move to do the same thing to traffic but there was such an uproar he just quit.

There are pros and cons to decentralizing. The Captain now has more control, but he has more control. For example, ask any NED officer how many times in the last year they had to go do surveillance for a table detective section....

SOOOO, I think its good to re-assess personnel and what they are doing on a day to day basis. We were given badges and guns to enforce laws, not to push paper. Now I understand there are admin jobs that may require or be more suitable for someone with sworn experience...but I will agree we do have some fat that can be trimmed.