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If you're running south to avoid the La Canada-Flintridge fire, we reccomend that you don't run too far south, since Compton looks like it's about to become the Murder Capital of America. Last night on The West Wing, SoCal residents found themselves running for their lives, but not knowing which way to run. While LA isn't about to have radioactive steam vented into the atmosphere (it's bad enough already, thank you very much), the news today is liable to make even the calmest Angeleno worry where they can find a safe haven in our fair city nowadays.
A Bloomberg report asserts that "homicides in Compton soared 72 percent last year, with 67 murders in a city of 97,000 people," which is apparantley enough to gain the dubious honor of "murder capital." R. Doyle Campbell, assistant sherriff of Compton explains that the average murder costs about $1 million to prosecute, so not only is this news likely to scare residents, but businesses as well.
The rise of homicide in Compton bucks the national trend, with both New York and the city of Los Angeles reporting less homicides this year than in recent years. "You get what you pay for," says LA Police Chief William Bratton, whose department patrols Compton since the city disbanded its own police force in 2002 to save money. On the plus side, the Compton City Council has agreed to spend $225,000 this year to hire new deputies, but it's clear that a lot more needs to be done before violence subsides.
Case in point: Last Thursday, a Compton woman was kidnapped and beaten before being rescued Sunday by police. Kudos to the officers for saving the woman, but jeers to the city leaders who have allowed this kind of thing to become such a commonplace occurence.
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Uh, the LAPD does not patrol Compton. Instead, Compton contracts with the LA County Sheriff's Department. Big difference.
The man is absolutely correct. The quote from William Bratton is correct, however- even though he is the Chief of Police, not the Sheriff. Guess he was just putting in his two cents.
Though, on second thought, whose in charge of the district where people are being murdered doesn't seem all that important.
Well, it matters because the Sheriff's Department really can't reallocate resources to deal with the problem. LAPD can move officers from Brentwood to Crenshaw or from Northridge to Pacoima without too much grumbling, but imagine the outrage if Santa Clarita deputies were moved to Compton.
Hey Japhy, that kidnapping took place in friggin' Adelanto. Compton's a craphole, but don't attribute every horrible crime to it.
There would be quite the outrage if Santa Clarita deputies were sent to Compton. The city pays $12 million a year to contract LASD. 16 cars on the streets at any time of the day in the large 50 square miles that makes up that City.
But check this, the unicorporated areas of Santa Clarita Valley (Stevenson Ranch, Castaic, Val Verde, Green Valley, outer parts of Valencia, Saugus, and Canyon Country) are patrolled by ONLY 2 deputies. If you know Santa Clarita Valley, that's some distance to cover.
Anyway, SCV is too far to send deputies to Compton. Take them from City of West Hollywood or that very random-ass piece of land at Universal City.
Seems to me that if a city is paying for police work they're not just asking to spread existing deputies more thinly to cover the new territory. Shouldn't they have just paid for enough officers?
"Hey Japhy, that kidnapping took place in friggin' Adelanto. Compton's a craphole, but don't attribute every horrible crime to it."
Pete, she was kidnapped in Adelento and found in Compton, so should we split the difference, or do we only consider a crime where it starts, not where it winds up? I'm not sure of the logic here- after all, which is worse, being a great place to kidnap or being a great place to hide people you've kidnapped?
There was a good article in the Times a few weeks ago about how homicides are up in Sherrif-patrolled areas and down in LAPD areas. I'm sure that a lot of this has to do with Compton, since the gang truce ended and bodies are dropping left and right. Whatever the problem, someone needs to step up to the plate. If the county sherrif is acting like a private security firm instead of a taxpayer-funded police force, the state should be thinking about an intervention. This is out of hand. It's also a clear refutation to those who say that policing doesn't matter and that other factors, like the economy, are most improtant in crime. Policing does matter, and LA is the most under-policed big city in America.
"Seems to me that if a city is paying for police work they're not just asking to spread existing deputies more thinly to cover the new territory. Shouldn't they have just paid for enough officers?"
Being one of the FBI safest cities in America (Santa Clarita), 16 units/basic cars in 50 square miles is doing fine in a fiscally conservative world.
And those thinly spread sheriff's in unicorporated areas, that's up to the County on what they want to do with it. However, there's an interesting deal where CHP takes care of traffic violations and accidents and LASD does crime. But yeah, the CHP Newhall Station has time to patrol side streets. They cover the from Kern County line in the Grapevine to 5/405 interchange and up to the Agua Dulce area on the 14. Don't forget 126 to Ventura County Line. Talk about spread thin.
A famous rapper said "Just another day in the city of Compton" Compton is Baghdad's little sister.