A squad of hard-charging law enforcement officers has been cut loose to quell a crime surge in the City of Los Angeles. Deploying the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite Metropolitan Division to these hot spots to combat the gang activity is one of several initiatives city officials said they intend to implement.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said 125 officers have been added to the squad with 75 more officers expected to join the ranks by September, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Los Angeles recorded a 12.7 percent increase in overall crime, ending more than a decade of declines and raising concerns about what more officials can do to reverse the trend,” said reporters from the Times.
Local officials including Police Chief Charlie Beck attribute this activity to gang violence, rising homelessness and downgrading theft and drug felonies to misdemeanors.
Garcetti told the press, “This is bad news … any uptick in crime is unacceptable.”
The surge in crime largely occurred in the LAPD’s Central Division. This part of the city’s district includes downtown, Chinatown and skid row.
Violent offenses in the Central Division rose 67 percent, the Times reported. The majority of these offenses include aggravated assaults and robberies. Property crimes have increased to 26 percent.
The mayor’s keynote speech during his State of the City address was public safety. With this new political hot potato boiling, he’s under tremendous pressure to report declining crime on his watch, the Times said.
Police Chief Beck takes this crime surge personally. “I’ve spent 40 years of my life trying to keep this city safe, and even though it is safer than in all of those 40 years, I still worry about this.”
Neighborhood council leaders in the areas most affected by this surge are complaining about the spike in crime. Many of the residents are concerned about the street attacks because “it doesn’t seem to be safe as it was a year ago,” said Patti Berman.
Jan Handal, chairman of the West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, said he hears from his neighbors about the home burglaries, car break-ins and automobile theft. Property crimes have increased more than 21 percent in this area of the city.
Gang violence has also perpetuated this new surge, the Times reports. Chief Beck said the number of gang-related shootings rose to 409 from 307. Despite these acts of violence, homicides were down 6.7 percent.
