Eye Nosh: Is This the Best Pastrami in America?
Does Traffic Get Worse After the End of Daylight Saving Time?
Zenyatta Makes "Her"Story
Pixies 'Doolittle' @ The Palladium 11/4/09
TV Junkie: Interview with Kristin Bauer aka Pam from 'True Blood'
Photo by James Herman via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr
The Westside, especially areas like Padific Palisades, is not that dangerous. Let's just call it property crime/non-violent land. The LAPD now has a plan that will move 26 officers from the West Los Angeles Division to other areas of higher crime in a reorganization of patrol areas because two new stations are opening--one in Koreatown and another in the West Valley.
It's safe to say people are not thrilled with the idea. "I'm upset about it. We are the ones who put in the most tax dollars, yet we're getting fewer patrols," said Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, who represents much of the Westside, to the LA Times. "They say they are not singling us out. But to me it is unacceptable. We pay good money for good protection. We are not happy."
A lot of the issue comes down to geography. While big swaths of land may have fewer people than a densely packed portion of Koreatown, response times are likely to go down in those larger areas.
In Sherman Oaks, there has traditionally been two patrol areas between the 101 and Mulholland and the 405 and Coldwater Canyon. Come January, there will basically be one car with another unit dipping below the 101 for a few neighborhoods. The switch doesn't increase the population to the patrol areas, but it will effect response time.
Jack Weiss, who represents both Sherman Oaks and portions of the Westside has a different take outlook on the newly proposed patrol borders. "The best way to protect low-crime areas is put the cops on the dots in high-crime areas. That protects us all." Weiss heads up the city's Public Safety Committee and is running for City Attorney in the March election.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
you know what the police should do? take police offers away from one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in LA and then make a public announcement about it.
"These people are rich, have lots of nice things, are unsuspecting, and now we're not protecting them. Happy Holidays! Have at it"
I grew up in the Palisades, out by the original Getty and it is a very, very safe neighborhood but it isn't crime-free. We were broken into twice in the 14 years we lived in that house. I can't imagine we were the only ones.
^^^ Haha, that is kind of a good point - why announce it? But also keep in mind that many of the wealthier communities in the Palisades, SM Canyon, etc. have security patrolling anyway...
Comparatively speaking one can call the westside statistically safer or less violent than other areas of the city. But this shuffling of forces out of one division to others is a symptomatic shell game.
A leading failure of the city of Los Angeles and its leadership was, is and will be its inability to provide a police force that can adequately serve all its citizens.
Anyone know what the city of LA gun laws are and how one goes about getting one. Since the cops aren't patrolling my area anymore, I guess I'll just have to arm myself.
I like Weiss' false logic - supposedly, if you take cops from low-crime areas and put them on "dots" in high-crime areas it will be just as effective at protecting the low-crime areas. I think it's the complete opposite - you pull cops from the low-crime areas and the crime rate will climb. Maybe not very much, but it will.
And then making a big public announcement is borderline retarded. If you live in those areas it's time to invest in a security system if you don't already have one.
oh no, palisades won't have police protection anymore???
guess they'll just have to put gate's at the front of their driveways and hire private security. oh wait...
The only whacked out logic here is that people who pay more taxes should have better police protection. This probably isn't what Rosendahl intends, but the same logic could be applied to schools - that upper class neighborhoods should have more tax dollars pumped into them than lower class neighborhoods.
Notifying the public of this change is common sense. The suggestion that the police should keep this a secret is ridiculous, and I'm sure if they even tried I'm certain the public would accuse them of a coverup.
@7 not better protection, but at least adequate protection.
Is it safe to assume the West Los Angeles Division also covers the Pico/Bundy area where there has been all these recent robberies to the elderly?
That's lovely
That's all frail, octogenarians need- less support
Good times