DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - The decrease in violent crime on Skid Row over the last two years as a result of the Safer Cities Initiative has been widely reported and applauded. But until recently, few realized that as crime has come down, the number of police officers attacked in the area has gone up dramatically.This is a matter of great concern, raising myriad questions and observations.
The fact that the number of attacks was so low for so long is partially the result of officers in this dangerous part of Los Angeles being handcuffed in what they were allowed to do. They were understaffed, for one thing. Making matters worse, the repugnant containment policy that prevailed in Skid Row for decades - the idea of keeping the homeless in one compact area - meant that those who should have been confronted were able to conduct their (illegal) business as usual. In many ways the authorities were not free to deal with lawbreakers.
Now, as the police are finally allowed to do their jobs and have the necessary resources, a new dynamic has been set up, with somewhat predictable consequences. Not only are there accusations of the police being too proactive, there is the alarming revelation of a 300% increase in attacks on the police themselves in just two years. Even if both outcomes of increased police presence may be expected, they should not be ignored.
As a first line of defense, everyone should look for ways to minimize the attacks. Maybe the reality is that it can't get better than this if authorities throw down the gauntlet against crime in a tough area, but we urge vigilant oversight by appropriate authorities so that the situation does not get out of hand.
More specifically, last week Los Angeles Downtown News reported that the number of assaults on Skid Row officers has increased from 12 in 2006 to 28 in 2007 to 39 so far this year. LAPD officials attribute the rise to Safer Cities, the effort launched in September 2006 that deployed 50 additional officers to Skid Row to crack down on all kinds of crime. Chief William Bratton said the increase in assaults is not a surprise. "We have more police down there and... they're focused much more aggressively," he said. "The expectation is that when you increase pressure on an area, there is that potential."Downtown News has been a consistent supporter of Safer Cities, and it is clear the effort needs to be maintained. If the officers were removed, the gains achieved in Central City East would be lost.
That said, we cannot help but be alarmed by the increase in attacks. It turns out that local officers are not just dealing with poor souls down on their luck, but are also on the front lines against hardened criminals. The culture of lawlessness that prevailed for so long does not disappear easily, especially when there are still drug dealers and others who come to the community to prey on the downtrodden.
Fortunately, most of the assaults have been minor; of the 39 incidents, the most serious for officers were two in which police suffered broken bones. Four suspects have been hospitalized and, tragically, one was shot and killed, allegedly after lunging at an officer with a knife.
Statistics indicate that, amid the wave of attacks, Central Division officers are behaving as they have been trained. Through September of this year, Central Division officers had used force at a ratio of six times per 1,000 incidents, slightly lower than the entire LAPD's ratio of seven times per 1,000 incidents.Still, the rise in attacks means that an appropriate outside body, perhaps the Police Commission or the City Council's Public Safety Committee, should look at the matter. If incidents of, say, a certain disease or a public project's budget shot up 300% in a similar time period, we'd ask for the same.
