Greetings from the Los Angeles Police Department. The following is the monthly update for September 2003. I hope you find the information useful. You are encouraged to continue to visit our Web site at www.LAPDOnline.org as it has grown to over 10,000 pages since its inception in 1998. CHIEF’S MESSAGE This month, I’d like to talk about the future, both my own and the future of the Los Angeles Police Department. First let me say that I made a pledge when I came to Los Angeles in October of last year, to serve for at least five years and I fully intend to fulfill my commitment. I stated, on the morning I was sworn in, that I had “saved the best Department for last,” and that statement rings truer the more I learn about this great organization and the great men and women I am proud to serve with. My commitment has only grown stronger over the past ten months due to the outstanding individuals I have met that make up the Los Angeles Police Department. Through the Department’s hard work and efforts, we have come a long way in the past ten months. Crime is down, activity levels and morale have increased and there is a new energy level throughout the Department. I’m here in Los Angeles because I want to be. I’m not going anywhere. The professional opportunity of a lifetime is here. My lifelong career goal has been to prove that cops count. Police officers are the essential element in making our cities safe and ensuring the survival of our form of democracy. The LAPD is not just an organization of report takers, but an organization of dedicated professionals who will show what an understaffed, committed work force can do together. Over the next two months, the Department will conclude the reorganization process. At the end of October we will issue a comprehensive five-year plan of action. It will state and guide the Department’s activities to meet our goals of reducing the incidence and fear of crime, particularly gang crime, full implementation of the Consent Decree, and refining what is already turning out to be a top-notch Counter-Terrorism Bureau. You may be asking, why five years? The answer is threefold. First, the Department needs to obtain the technology to support the changes we have made, such as the technology to improve the COMPSTAT process. The Department will work with City Council to accept a two-million dollar Community Oriented Policing Services Grant to significantly modernize our COMPSTAT System, particularly its decision tree software capabilities. Second, the Department needs to develop and improve forensic, ballistic and DNA capabilities. Much of this is already in the works with collaboration between LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Cal State L.A. to build a state of the art crime lab, scheduled to open in 2005. And third, in order to be out from under the Federal Consent Decree by the expiration date of June 15, 2006, the Department is working aggressively to meet all of the interim compliance deadlines. This plan of action will build on the incredible foundation of talent this organization possesses, both on the street and in administrative positions, including civilian and sworn personnel. It will clearly identify our strengths, weaknesses and priorities, and what needs to be done to achieve them. It will maximize our most significant resource – our people – the exceptionally talented men and women who are the LAPD. It will allow the Department to assess whether we are using all of our resources to meet our identified priorities, and help us to get the right people in the right assignments at the right time, to achieve significant reductions in violent crime and make Los Angeles a safer place to live and work. In addition, it will clearly state what we believe are our current capabilities and capacities, while making a strong case for critically needed additional resources. The plan will focus on both sworn and civilian needs and priorities. As in all police organizations, civilian personnel are sometimes overlooked, but our seriously understaffed civilian workforce (we have almost 800 civilian vacancies) are truly the glue that holds this Department together. From what I have observed and fully appreciate, our civilian workforce is an integral and valuable resource that provides critical support to the sworn members of the Department. This is reinforced by the fact that a number of civilian vacancies have to be staffed by police officers because they are so essential to meeting our operational goals. On the issue of response time, the Department is working to staff up patrol forces and the Detective Bureau to meet our 7/40 staffing standard. This staffing standard translates to a 7-minute average response for a Code-3 call for service, along with an average of 40 percent of a patrol officer’s time being available for proactive police work. This assumes that 60 percent of officer’s time will be spent answering calls, making arrests, and doing paperwork. To help achieve this staffing standard is where the reorganization of Detectives comes into play. The Department is striving to get the Detectives to the crime scenes as quickly as possible in order to relieve patrol officers and to get them back proactively patrolling the streets. By assigning a larger number of Detectives to nights and weekend shifts, we also expect to increase our arrest and clearance rates. Detectives, like uniformed cops, need to be assigned when and where crime is occurring. The LAPD needs more highly skilled Detectives conducting investigations and making arrests while significantly reducing the paperwork that currently prohibits many of them from functioning as Detectives. In looking back over the past ten months, I’ll be the first to admit that unfortunately things have not always worked out the way I would have liked. The Department suffered some setbacks during the budget process with the City Council, including the delay in hiring 320 more officers, and we are unfortunately still in the business of responding to false burglar alarms, but even with these setbacks, I feel the opportunities here at the LAPD are greater than in any other police department that I have been associated with. I believe in the Los Angeles Police Department, and the difference our officers can make in the lives of everyone that lives, works and visits this City. We are not the solution, but we are an essential component and major catalyst. I have quickly come to understand the great pride and the great devotion our dedicated officers and civilian personnel have for the LAPD. Now is the time for us to seize the opportunity and work collectively to make the LAPD the kind of place we all want it to be, and know it can be. Through teamwork and with the active support and involvement of the Police Commission and Inspector General, I plan to achieve the support of the City Council and move forward aggressively to reach Mayor Hahn’s goal to make Los Angeles the safest large city in America. CRIME STATISTICS - CITY-WIDE Year to Date as of September 13, 2003 Homicide Down -23.0% Rape Down -8.1% Robbery Down -1.0% Aggravated Assault Down -6.7% Domestic Violence Down -3.4% --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL VIOLENT CRIMES Down -4.2% Burglary Down -0.7% Burglary/Theft from Vehicle Down -3.3% Personal/Other Theft Down -8.2% Auto Theft Down -3.3% --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL PROPERTY CRIMES Down -3.8% MEDAL OF VALOR CEREMONIES On Monday, October 27, 2003, at 12:00 noon, the Los Angeles Police Department will present the Medal of Valor Awards, the Department’s highest honor. The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce will host the 44th Annual Medal of Valor Awards luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel located at 711 S. Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets for the luncheon may be purchased by contacting Lisa Angrisani at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce at (213) 580-7594. The cost of this event is $85 per person and tables of ten may also be purchased. The proceeds from this event will benefit the Los Angeles Police Foundation and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. The Medal of Valor is awarded to officers who have distinguished themselves with acts of bravery or heroism beyond the normal demands of police service. To date, the Department has awarded 504 Medal of Valor awards. The actions of the officers receiving this honor, illustrates the type of situations any Los Angeles Police Officer may face in the day-to- day performance of their duties. METROPOLITAN DIVISION MOUNTED PLATOON’S ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE Each year the Mounted (Equestrian) Platoon opens the doors of the barn to the public for their Annual Open House. This year a special celebration will be held on Saturday, October 11, 2003, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to mark the Mounted Platoon’s 15th anniversary. Tours of the facility and demonstrations, along with various other law enforcement displays, will be available to all visitors. Please join us. LAPD HAS RE-ESTABLISHED ITS LATERAL ENTRY PROGRAM The Department has re-established this program for qualified California police officers. The lateral program includes an expedited testing process and an abbreviated training and orientation program. The training program will cover areas where LAPD training exceeds the State’s Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) mandated training and areas that are LAPD specific. The training will be conducted in a manner that recognizes current police officer’s standing as experienced California law enforcement professionals and not as new recruits. Lateral candidates must meet all of the requirements for entry-level Los Angeles Police Officers, have valid California Basic POST Certificates and have completed probationary periods with a California police agency. They must complete all LAPD tests, except the qualifying written tests. The tests are an oral interview, a physical abilities test, a background investigation which includes a polygraph examination, a medical evaluation, written psychological tests, and a psychological interview and evaluation. Interested candidates may contact a recruiter at (866) 444-LAPD, or log on to www.lacity.org/per/safety.htm for more information. WILLIAM J. BRATTON Chief of Police To unsubscribe from this newsletter please click on this link http://listserv.lacity.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=lapd_monthly&A=1