The Westside is getting more cops to patrol and police our neighborhoods. As part of an effort to enhance public safety, one year ago this week, LA Council member Michael Bonin launched a major initiative to convince LAPD to refocus on neighborhood policing. That work has paid off: just this week, LAPD assigned 12 more officers to the 11th District — and more will be added over the next few months.
Bonin is very grateful to Chief Charlie Beck for making these assignments, which will help make our neighborhoods safer, curtail crime, and improve response times. The new resources are already making a difference. LAPD tells me that the extra cops helped its Pacific Area bust a prolific car burglary ring this week.
For too long, fewer and fewer cops were assigned to patrol our neighborhoods, and far too many people were telling me that they rarely saw a patrol car in their neck of the woods. It was the result of a decades-long trend of de-emphasizing basic neighborhood policing in favor of specialized details and elite crime suppression units. Now, as my colleague Joe Buscaino and I proposed in our “Back to Basic Car” plan, the LAPD is moving officers from specialized details and into our neighborhoods, and hiring more civilians so well-trained and able-bodied officers can move from desk duty to neighborhood patrols and community policing.
This is an excellent example of the good that can come from neighbors working together to move Los Angeles forward, do good and get things done for our neighborhoods. Thank you to the hundreds of people who signed petitions in support of our “Back to Basic Car” program, and who joined us to call on LAPD to increase the presence of officers in our neighborhoods.
You can send a message to Bonin at councilmember.bonin@lacity.org if there are any questions.
