Greetings from the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department. The following is the monthly update for September 2005. We hope you find the information useful. You are encouraged to continue to visit our website at www.lapdonline.org as it has recently been redesigned and updated. CHIEF’S MESSAGE Since my appointment nearly three years ago, our Los Angeles Police Department has gone through many changes, including several reorganizations, Consent Decree reform, an overhaul in the Department’s discipline process, and now a comprehensive redesign and improvement in our use of force procedures, protocols, equipment, and training. All these changes are intended to ensure that we have and practice the best practices in American policing. What separates police officers from all other public servants is that officers are the only ones authorized to use force, and the only ones authorized to take a life in the performance of their duties. This creates a phenomenal obligation upon any police organization to ensure that the type and degree of force used is measured and appropriate. Because of that obligation, the command staff and our training cadre are constantly looking to find ways to limit and prevent mistakes from happening, to ensure that no officers intentionally use force inappropriately, and when force is required, that the Department is able to justify that force and defend our actions from any criticism that comes our way. This is critical, as it only takes one questionable incident and the Department finds its policies, tactics, and the behavior of its officers under the microscope. Recent examples of our reviewing, reexamining, and modifying the way this Department operates are clearly evident. One of these examples is the comprehensive revision of the Department’s pursuit policy, with the pilot program established in June 2003 and the final policy approved this past April. Another example is the Shooting At or From Moving Vehicles Policy approved in February 2005. Multiple layers of comprehensive training quickly began and the policy was fully implemented by the end of April, with additional training and guidelines now being implemented to give all patrol officers additional hands-on training. In late July, I asked Assistant Chief Sharon Papa to head a modified Board of Inquiry (BOI) to examine our Special Weapons and Tactics Team, or SWAT, policies and procedures in light of the incident leading to the death of 19-month-old Suzie Peña, the first death caused by our highly trained SWAT officers during a hostage situation in their 38 year history. As you know, her father was holding the little girl as a hostage and as a shield, as he randomly fired at officers brought in to contain the situation. The result was tragic. In order to learn from this incident we will be asking the BOI to examine the tactics that were used and to identify improvements that can be made and incorporate these improvements into future training. It is our duty as a Department to have this incident reviewed with a critical eye for the sake of the Peña family, and for the future of SWAT, a concept that was developed and first implemented here in Los Angeles. The Board will include experts from both inside and outside the Department, as we want a broad cross-section of individuals assessing this incident. Training Division has also been involved in the recently created LAPD Use of Force “Best Practices” Strategic Planning Work Group, consisting of experts from inside and outside the Department. This work group serves as a “best practices” research and scanning entity, seeking out the “best practices” in use of force in law enforcement from around the world. This working group will make recommendations to me, and if those recommendations are acceptable for the Department’s purposes, they will be incorporated into our Use of Force Resource Document. The Use of Force Resource Document will be a living document, easily updated as situations dictate. Regarding the issue of training, in the past year we have been working to reinvigorate and incorporate the “best practices” in the way we train our people, both recruit and in-service personnel. We have placed an emphasis on using more interactive learning scenarios that provide hands-on learning experiences, utilizing adult learning methods, and providing decentralized training at the geographic Areas rather than at one central site such as the Police Academy or the Ahmanson Recruit Training Center. An excellent example of this interactive, hands-on and decentralized training will be the installation of state-of-the-art Use of Force Options Simulators at each of the 19 geographic Areas. These new simulators will replace the Firearms Tactic Simulators, or FATS systems, that have only been available at our training facilities in the past. The new systems can incorporate legally based and photographed training sequences to improve the “reality” of the training. By becoming the premiere law enforcement organization in the world, we are not ensured of our position indefinitely. Our quest for the “best practices” in law enforcement will be ongoing. To be the best, we cannot rely on our history, past deeds, or former glory. We must constantly question, reevaluate, and push for further improvements. We must always be willing to look back at any given situation or scenario, regardless of success or failure of the outcome and continually ask, “How can we do it better?” CRIME STATISTICS - CITY-WIDE Year to Date as of August 27, 2005 Homicide Down -7.5% Rape Down -24.1% Robbery Down -6.7% Aggravated Assault Down -40.0% --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL VIOLENT CRIMES Down -28.1% Burglary Down -8.9% Burglary/Theft from Vehicle Down -15.3% Personal/Other Theft Down -12.9% Auto Theft Down -9.0% --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL PROPERTY CRIMES Down -11.9% TOTAL PART 1 CRIMES Down -16.0% 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