Greetings from the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department. The following is the monthly update for July 2004. We 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 When you look at the progress the Department is making to continue the crime reduction momentum, you have to remember we are now trying to beat our own numbers, the improvements we’ve been able to make over the past 18 months. To get a little perspective however, you need not only focus on the here and now, but also look at where the Department was two years ago, before we reorganized and refocused our efforts. Since 2002, through May 29th, the work of the men and women of the LAPD has yielded a 15.9% reduction in homicides, a 6.4% reduction in rape, a 17% reduction in robbery, an 18.5% decrease in aggravated assault, and an 11.8% reduction in child and spousal abuse. Over that two-year period violent crime was reduced 17.4%, property crimes went down 8%, and Part I crimes dropped 10%. If you look back another ten years, you get an even clearer view of our progress. Since 1992, the men and women of this Department have reduced violent crime in this City by an astounding 50%. That breaks down to a 52% reduction in homicides, a 35% reduction in rape, a 57% reduction in robbery, a 43% reduction in aggravated assault, and an 18% reduction in child and spousal abuse. Looking at property crimes, we see a ten-year reduction of 45%. Burglary is down 56%, burglary/theft from vehicle is down 40%, personal/other theft is down 32%, and auto theft is down 53%. Those are incredible numbers and illustrate just how far the LAPD has come in ten years. If you factor in the population figures, these percentages are even more impressive, considering that in 1992, Los Angeles had 400,000 fewer residents. Although the improvements made in the last decade have been remarkable, the Department is still not where we want or need to be. Even with our best efforts, commitment, and perseverance, we still have a long way to go. Over the past decade, the Department has never hired our fully- authorized sworn strength of 10,000 officers, something that undoubtedly would have decreased crime even further. The LAPD is now at the point where its will, determination, and expertise are hampered by its lack of resources. The Department’s budget for this fiscal year (2004-2005) is a level-growth budget and doesn’t hold many surprises. We will be able to hire 405 new recruits. These new hires will replace an estimated 375 officers who are expected to retire or leave the Department during the next 12 months. That will leave a net gain of 30 additional officers, which is still well below the 10,000-member force mark at 9,241 budgeted officers. In reality, if we factor in military and other types of leave, the Department will have approximately 9,000 officers available. The North Valley Area Station in Valley Bureau is expected to begin operations on December 21, 2004, and the budget will allow to staff that station with 44 additional civilian employees including Management Analysts, Secretaries, Records Clerks, and Clerk Typists. But the additional personnel to staff the Area facilities will come from existing police officer resources, including the 30 new hires, so we effectively have no gain in officers for the field. Aside from human resources, the budget allows $680,000 for technology improvements, and we will be able to replace 250 black and white vehicles and 103 motorcycles. Probably the best news from the 2004-2005 fiscal budget will be the limited unfreezing of sworn and civilian promotions to support the patrol function. For the sworn positions, this means Captains and below. This unfreeze, and the number of promotional opportunities available, will depend on any surplus in the salaries budget occurring throughout the fiscal year. Although this year’s level-growth budget doesn’t provide the funding to add the amount of sworn positions needed to effectively police a city the size of Los Angeles, other opportunities, such as Sheriff Lee Baca’s proposed referendum to raise the sales tax in the County by one half cent, continue to present themselves. The message is out there, and the crime numbers tend to back it up – additional significant, permanent and citywide reductions in crime in the City of Los Angeles will be increasingly harder to achieve without the infusion of more resources. The Department is on the way to reaching some of its crime reduction goals. But some of the stats are still “soft,” meaning we’re having a harder time continuing the reductions of crimes like Homicide and Rape. But overall, when you look at the big picture, significant and impressive reductions in crime have been made over the past decade. Within the past 2 years, the LAPD has reorganized, refined, and refocused to be more efficient and to continue to bring about further reductions, but it has reached the point where the gains will continually diminish. We will continue to do more with less, working creatively and effectively, while consistently working with our communities and political leadership to get the necessary resources to finally do what we know we are capable of – making Los Angeles the safest large city in America. We can do it if given sufficient resources. CRIME STATISTICS - CITY-WIDE Year to Date as of June 26, 2004 Homicide Up 3.6% Rape Up 0.7% Robbery Down -17.1% Aggravated Assault Down -14.1% Child/Spousal Abuse Down -12.2% --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL VIOLENT CRIMES Down -14.8% Burglary Down -7.6% Burglary/Theft from Vehicle Down -7.1% Personal/Other Theft Down -7.5% Auto Theft Down -10.8% --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL PROPERTY CRIMES Down -8.2% 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