Good morning. I am honored and humbled to have been appointed to the Board of Police Commissioners by our Mayor, Eric Garcetti. I strongly believe that this is the most important Commission in the City of Los Angeles, particularly at this moment in history. It is an honor to join my new colleagues and I thank them for the trust and responsibility they have bestowed upon me as the President of this Commission.
The LAPD is the leader in providing law enforcement services to our diverse community. I am eager to learn more about the Department and I look forward to meeting as many of the nearly 10,000 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff that provide these services to our great City as possible. I am equally eager to continue meeting with members of the public to hear their thoughts and concerns regarding the Department so I can be an effective representative for all the citizens of this City. I am committed to working in partnership with the community and Department as I begin this mission.
Our City wants and deserves an engaged Police Department that is equally committed to keeping our neighborhoods safe, reducing crime, constitutional policing AND respecting people's rights. Safe and prosperous communities rely on the work of an effective Police Department. Police work is incredibly difficult and often dangerous and the overwhelming majority of LAPD police officers perform their jobs in a lawful manner, with respect for the communities they serve.
Respecting rights and reducing crime are NOT conflicting goals. The history of Los Angeles has shown us this. The LAPD is not the same Department it was in 2001 when a Federal Consent Decree was needed to ensure reforms. Los Angeles exited the Federal Consent Decree with one of the most respected and emulated Police Departments in the country. Today, the Department largely reflects the diversity of the city it serves, has a strong commitment to community policing, and benefits from the most robust and effective civilian oversight of any major city in the country. However, as noted in the Independent Monitor's Final Report upon our release from the Consent Decree, "the process and institutions that have been created must be nurtured and strengthened by the City family in the years to come. Benign neglect will endanger the hard-won progress that the LAPD has made."
When situations occur where police officers employ deadly use of force there are many important questions we must ask. We must not be quick to judge the actions of those involved. Instead, we must ensure that a proper and thorough investigation is completed and be as transparent as legally permissible when adjudicating the investigation. As a Commission, it is our sworn responsibility to make sure that the facts are thoroughly analyzed and a fair result, based upon those facts, is arrived at.
We do not live in a bubble. We can’t pretend that what happens in other cities does not have an impact on how our citizens feel, or fail to recognize that we have suffered our own conflicts arising out of police actions. Each of these incidents builds on the others, and feeds a narrative of "us" vs. "them." Each of these incidents impact how citizens view the Police and how the Police view their role and relationship with the communities they serve. All of these incidents have impacted the relationship and trust between the community and the Police Department. As Chief Beck recently noted, "there have been withdrawals from an important account," the LAPD account of trust between the Department and the community. With each withdrawal, there is a greater urgency to increase the speed of needed deposits into that account. In these moments, we need to take extra care to ensure that the bonds of trust between the Police and our diverse communities are secure and strengthened. This has to be done on an institutional level through policies and programs and on an individual level through the daily interactions of our officers and the public.
I am a firm believer, along with both Mayor Garcetti and Chief Beck, that community and relationship based policing is a powerful tool that if used fully, can transform the results we can achieve as a city. Now, more than ever, our officers need to have a presence in our diverse communities. As Mayor Garcetti said in his last State of the City, “When cops and community members don’t know each other -- crime thrives. But knowing the neighborhood... knowing the people … building trust...This is the heart of our approach to tackling crime, which we call relationship-based policing.”
In the near future I will share some of the goals that I would like my colleagues to support as we move forward. Again thank you for the honor of serving on this Commission and being elected as President.
Let’s begin the meeting.
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