Crime is on the decline in Los Angeles, with homicides alone expected to be down 15% from last year, but newly appointed Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell worries the statistics don’t tell the whole story.
McDonnell spoke Thursday ahead of a ceremony marking his swearing-in as the city’s 59th police chief, citing perceptions of disorder and crimes going unreported because some believe no investigations are done. expressed concern about reality.
Mr McDonnell would rather see the city’s crime numbers rise because it would tell him what the problem really is and give him a better idea of what needs to be done to address it. he said.
“Our executives and professional staff are working extremely hard to continue to reduce this number,” he said. “But public perception is based on a variety of factors, one of which is that reporting of crime is said to be down because people don’t have confidence that something will be done. I think so.”
That candor was one of the reasons Mayor Karen Bass turned to McDonnell, 65, as her new mayor.
Mr. McDonnell, the son of Irish immigrants who still sounds like he’s never left Boston despite spending more than 40 years in Southern California, previously served as Los Angeles County sheriff and Long Beach police chief. He was in charge of He started his career as an assault cop with the Los Angeles Police Department and rose through the ranks in the 1980s and ’90s, when crime was lower than today.
Mr McDonnell said some people had become reluctant to call police in recent years because they didn’t feel like “something meaningful was going to be done”.
He placed partial blame on prosecutors for not charging many low-level crimes. That policy is expected to change next month when Nathan Hochman is sworn in as Los Angeles County district attorney, replacing progressive incumbent George Gascon. State voters also passed Proposition 36, which enacts harsher penalties for certain types of theft and drug crimes.
Mr McDonnell said: “We encourage people who have been victims of crime to come forward and report that crime has improved their ability to commit resources and develop strategies to address those issues.” .
He added: “While crime numbers may go up, it gives us a more realistic picture of the problems we face.”
At Thursday’s ceremony, Bass said the new chief has “already begun” conducting community meetings and assessing the needs of the Los Angeles Police Department.
“My number one job as mayor is to keep people safe, and it’s clear to me that the only way to improve safety in Los Angeles is to make changes,” Bass said, adding McDonnell said: “We are committed to keeping our city safe,” he added. We are preparing for what is to come. ”
In a public address Thursday, McDonnell said he would spend his first 90 days in office listening, evaluating and planning the way forward.
“One of our priorities is to tackle crime, particularly violent crime and property crime,” he said.
Other priorities, McDonnell said, include transparency and accountability, addressing homelessness, improving emergency response capabilities, and “the responsible deployment and use of technology with a firm commitment to privacy.”
The chief also appeared to be trying to allay concerns that the Los Angeles Police Department he oversees would become overly aggressive.
“Let’s be clear: reducing crime and building trust are not separate goals,” he says. “They are deeply intertwined. We must be true partners in the pursuit of justice, united by a common commitment to security and mutual respect.”
In comments before his speech, McDonnell expressed regret that retailers are closing stores in low-income areas, exacerbating food deserts. He said that at the root of the problem was “a fear that crime is becoming more prevalent,” a realization that was brought to light after a video of a store robbery by a large group of teenagers went viral. It is said to be promoted by
“When you walk into a retail store, everything you want is in a locked plastic case,” McDonnell said. “Those are signs of dysfunction.”
The first test of Mr. McDonnell’s approach as chief will likely be in MacArthur Park, where crime, gang activity, homelessness and drug use are rampant.
McDonnell, who helped clean up the park in 2003 while working for the Los Angeles Police Department, acknowledged that the park is now in a “pretty desperate situation,” adding that the park “attracts activities that have a negative impact on the neighborhood.” “location.”
“We need to ensure that all parties with a stake in the area look at it and have something to offer toward a solution,” he said. “If everyone participates, I think we will see a big difference in three to six months.”
Mr McDonnell said he was considering expanding the program in which police officers work with clinicians from mental health teams. He also supports efforts to have people other than police respond to incidents where people are in crisis, but noted that funding for such efforts remains limited.
Another challenge facing McDonnell is securing enough executives to execute his vision. In the 15 years he was away from the Los Angeles Police Department, the department’s ranks dropped from nearly 10,000 to nearly 8,800.
The academy’s most recent class size was just 23 students, less than half the enrollment in McDonnell’s last years with the LAPD.
“We have the capacity to hire 60 people for each class, but I don’t see anything close to that,” he said, adding that he hopes the ministry will streamline the hiring process soon.
Mr. McDonnell’s office has had a long-standing organizational chart, and the number of people on the commander’s roster has grown as they have taken on more professional responsibilities. He said he believes some restructuring is needed and that there are too many “silos” operating separately. He suggested the possibility of redeploying administrative personnel to patrol, given the slimming down of the department.
“And there’s no getting away from the fact that we need more talented people interested in this job and willing to do it,” McDonnell said.
The chief said he sees police work as “helping people who are facing the worst day of their lives and being able to bring justice to families.”
He reiterated that idea in his speech at Thursday’s ceremony, in which he spoke about the importance of not forgetting the humans behind crime data.
“These numbers are not abstract metrics,” he says. “These are real people with real stories, survivors who have endured the weight of crime long after they faded from the headlines. …For every statistic, there is a lived experience, a life-changing experience, There are people whose sense of safety has been shattered.”
