Operations Central Bureau
Town Hall Meeting - June 26th, 2003

by Bobbie Logan

Report on the Bureau, LAPD's Anti-Terrorism Efforts, Chief of Police William J. Bratton, Q&A

Operations Central Bureau held a Town Hall meeting this last Thursday at the California Market Center on 9th Street, several blocks east of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event was designed to bring the community up-to-date on the state of operations for Central Bureau, to introduce Area Captains who in turn presented community service certificates, and to take questions and answers from the audience directly to Chief of Police William Bratton.

An additional "overview" presentation on terrorism was included in order to answer some of the questions many of us may have had as to LAPD's involvement with the fight against international terrorism and how it's affecting us.

Report on the Bureau

Deputy Chief Gary J. Brennan, commanding officer of Central Bureau, opened with a warm speech welcoming all those in attendance, and was sincere in his appreciation for everyone who gave up their evening to be there. He introduced the area commanding officers in attendance, including the new Chief Information Officer, the Bureau Chief of the Consent Decree Bureau and the Chief Park Ranger.

Chief Brennan then presented a map of Central Bureau to better explain its borders and boundaries, pointing out that Central Bureau is one of the largest, and busiest, bureaus in the city. Tremendous ethnic and cultural diversity exists in its 67 square miles. There are almost 13 thousand people per square mile, not including the thousands of commuters that enter the downtown area everyday.

Central Bureau includes five local police stations, Central, Hollenbeck, Newton, Northeast and Rampart, along with Central Traffic Division. Chief Brennan pointed out that he knew there was some question as to whether or not personnel are assigned equitably. "But," he said, "if you compare the size of these Divisions, their crime rate, their population to the numbers of people both sworn and civilian assigned, you'll see that, in large part, the distribution is, in fact, equitable." Some 1671 sworn personnel serve the needs of the community including police officers, detectives, vice officers, bicycle officers, gang impact officers, and narcotics officers performing assignments throughout the bureau.

"When William Bratton became Chief of Police, seven or so months ago," Brennan said, "it took him about a month or two to identify some specific objectives for the LAPD. They are, firstly, to reduce crime, particularly violent crime, and gang crime, reduce the fear of crime and reduce disorder throughout the city. His second major objective was the prevention of terrorism, and his third major objective was to ensure full compliance with the Federal Consent Decree that the city and the federal government agreed to following the Rampart incident a few years ago."

Chief Brennan said that all of this can only be accomplished through consistent emphasis on community policing. The mission of the LAPD under the direction of Chief William Bratton and adopted by Central Bureau is simple; reduce crime, prevent terrorism, ensure full compliance with the Consent Decree and emphasize community policing. Within Central Bureau that "community policing" concept has been defined by the commanding officers and Chief Brennan as a "partnership," a partnership that is intended to identify and solve problems through shared responsibility.

Brennan said, "The foundation of that partnership is … there are actually four 'corner posts' if you will of that partnership … and they include the business community and those organizations related to the business community such as Chambers of Commerce and so on, schools, neighborhood groups and faith-based communities … our churches, synagogues and mosques." He went on to say that those four groups represent, in partnership with any police department in any city, those people who are the primary stakeholders in any community. Any community policing program that intends to build a partnership that will succeed has to include those four entities. That is LAPD's objective.

Chief Brennan then gave a brief overview of crime statistics within the area stating that, with the exception of Newton Division where there is a 5% increase in violent crime, both violent crime and property crime are reduced throughout the Bureau year-to-date. Violent crime is down 2% with property crime being down 9%. What these statistics do not show is the amount of work that has gone into accomplishing that crime reduction.

Chief Brennan remarked that he would have loved to have had the time to show everyone all the increases in enforcement that have occurred in the Bureau over the last year, everything from writing traffic citations to making serious felony arrests. Just that morning in Newton Division, the department concluded a major operation with the federal government a major crime taskforce that resulted in 31 arrests of serious gang members in the Newton area.

Unfortunately, gang crime is up 14% throughout the Bureau and Chief Brennan doesn't want everything to appear "peaches and cream." The Bureau still has their work cut out for them and they know what that work is.

Traffic collisions are down 2% with total fatal collisions down 41%, a very impressive figure considering the numbers of vehicles on the streets as compared to previous years.

Chief Brennan then outlined the rest of the meeting and introduced Central Bureau's command staff members representing the five Divisions. One at a time the commanding officers came to the podium to present Community Service Certificates to local residents.

Captain James R. Rupert of Central Division gave awards to two community members, Jonathon Smoller and Ken Shin.

Next Captain Charlie Beck of Rampart Division honored Sonny Zapanta.

Captain Reggie Maeweather of Newton Division presented a certificate to Sandra Bryant for her work with youth programs, and a second one to Elliot Birnberg.

Captain Bill Fierro, recently appointed to command Hollenbeck Division, recognized a group, the Dolores Mission Community Safety Project members, as well as Father John Moretta of Resurrection Church.

Perhaps the most poignant and bittersweet part of the evening came during the final introduction, that of Northeast Division's Lt. Doug Wade, who was introduced in place of Captain Kyle Jackson.

Chief Brennan explained that Captain Jackson himself was unable to attend because the LAPD and the Northeast area in particular had suffered a tragic loss the previous night. Two of their detectives were involved in a traffic collision in Riverside County. The auto they were in was hit head on, killing one detective and putting the other in critical condition.

Captain Jackson and Captain Aborn had been up all night and asked Chief Brennan to extend their sincere appreciation for all the wonderful warm wishes and condolences, the fruit baskets, the flowers and everything else that has arrived at Northeast station. Chief Brennan said, "It's a tough event for LAPD made much easier to bear by the support and appreciation of the community. So on their behalf, I thank you."

The ceremony continued as Lt. Wade honored Samantha Casciani, a 13 year-old Girl Scout who has spearheaded an effort to completely renovate the "Children's Room" at Northeast Station. The purpose of the room is to provide scared and upset children who come to the station an area of peace and comfort. The room was in desperate need of repair, so Samantha took it upon herself to write letters to community members, businesses owners and her friends.

She drummed up enough support to completely refurbish the room. Supplies were donated as was paint, toys, rugs, play pens … everything needed to make a comfortable place for these kids to stay during their very stressful time. As a result, when they enter the room they find a peaceful and even inviting environment. Through teamwork and dedication, Samantha and her fellow Girl Scout troop members painted and decorated the room, and Samantha even donating some of her own personal items.

Special recognition was also given to the entire troop along with troop leader Julie Casciani. Because of their effort, a wonderful place was made for those children while the department helps them through their troubled time.

The last Community Service Certificate of the evening was awarded to Anna Delis for her tireless effort working on Northeast Division's Volunteer Surveillance Team (VST). Anna's countless hours of training, organization and support are a success story and may provide guidelines for similar volunteer programs across the city.

In summing up the awards, Chief Brennan said, "I want to say … I know most of the honorees. I've had an opportunity to work with them, whether present or not, whether young or old. I really want to emphasize the point … if community policing is going to work, it will only succeed when we have people like those who have been honored tonight who are willing to work in partnership with us … to give up their time to help us find solutions to the many problems, many solvable problems, that we face as a community. It gives me great pleasure to be able to acknowledge them in a forum like this and I hope that it is as encouraging for you as it is for me that we have people like that. Many of you are like that or you wouldn't be here, but I hope that it also encourages you to keep up your good work and your good efforts, on behalf of the people of Los Angeles, in working in partnership with LAPD."

LAPD's Anti-Terrorism Efforts

Chief Brennan then introduced Bureau Chief John Miller, commanding officer of the Counter Terrorism Bureau. Mr. Miller at one time served as Deputy Police Commissioner of New York where he was chief spokesperson for the New York Police Department. Later he was a broadcast journalist in New York and has a national and international reputation as an expert on terrorism. Brennan said that since his appointment as a Bureau Chief in Los Angeles earlier this year he has convinced the department that they are fortunate to have him as a member of their leadership team.

Miller began his talk by informing us that, as far as he knows, he is the only Director of a counter-terrorism operation in the United States who has met Osama Bin Laden or, for that matter, co-anchored with Barbara Walters. They key difference … he was more afraid of Barbara Walters!

"If there was one event that 'changed the rules of this game' it was September 11th," he said. "It was the event that really took the government of the United States and engaged them with the terrorists who had continually declared war on the United States, it got the United States to declare war back. In October when Chief William Bratton was sworn in we talked about it, and by January he had asked me to help 'stand up' a counter-terrorism bureau in the Los Angeles Police Department."

He then gave a quick overview of the current state of affairs. September 11th woke up the rest of the country. Dealing with terrorism was no longer just a job for the Pentagon, a job for the generals, a job for the Army, FBI or CIA. "It took places like New York City especially, but Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, major cities, to wake up and say, 'Wait a minute, this is something that we have to consider because if the terrorists can do this here, are we prepared, have we planned for this, have we trained for this, and do we have the ability to respond?'"

Using a PowerPoint presentation, he then covered our conflict in Afghanistan, describing various attacks and how they affect other countries acting as allies to the United States and the weapons used, including shoulder launched missiles that can threaten any city's major airport, like LAX. There are tens of thousands of these missiles out on the black market, and the knowledge that terrorists possess these weapons and are willing to use them is one of great concern.

"If you look at Los Angeles in the context of the events that have occurred in New York in 2001," he said, "or in the world since al-Qaeda has started to strike with major attacks again, you will see that we are a target rich environment. The terrorists look for targets that will injure the US economy … that will send a message to the American people and their allies."

He lists "symbolic" targets, like Hollywood and Disneyland, but also infrastructure targets, like LAX and the Port of Los Angeles. When one considers the US economy one finds that 38% of the Nation's gross national product travels through our port, the largest port in the United States and the third largest in the world.

Miller noted, "A 10-day strike in the Port if Los Angeles last year cost an estimated 20 billion dollars to the US economy. If you thought in terms of a September 11th style or level attack on the port that would close it down for more than 30 days, the cost would be staggering. The entire September 11th attack was estimated to have cost the city of New York 17.6 billion dollars. An attack on the port could make that sound like a small figure and we're not even talking about the more important figure, which is the total in terms of human life. So the Chief has directed us to take the attitude that we are a target, that we need to prepare that way and that the best prevention is good planning, good investigation, good intelligence."

He then explained that many al-Qaeda terrorists have traveled and lived here in California, naming them one by one, saying this isn't an East Coast phenomenon. Based on this level of presence in the past, Chief Bratton asked him to organize a bureau that would combine a variety of LAPD resources, including the Bomb Squad, the Hazardous Materials Unit, the Anti-Terrorist Division, and intelligence and investigative functions, uniting them into one Bureau. Their efforts need to be coordinated given the level of the threat that faces American Cities, so putting them under one umbrella will add some cohesion.

The Anti-Terrorist Division staffs the Terrorist Threat Assessment Center, where calls to LAPD's 1-877-ATHREAT number are answered. The public is asked to use this number to report something suspicious. LAPD has personnel embedded with the FBI in the Los Angeles office, as well as police officers who have top-secret clearances and see intelligence from all over the world. Some have clearances so high that they can actually review the CIA signal data from satellites and listening devices from around the world. "We have a pretty good set of eyes and ears on the larger picture of where the threat could come from overseas and our intelligence section in the Anti-Terrorist Division really breaks that down to the nexus," said Miller, and then he asked, "What does it have to do with Los Angeles? Is there a nexus here, is there something we need to be looking at further?"

He explained that the Liaison Section is intended to give LAPD people who can work full-time with the downtown business community here and Central Division, to work with the Airport, the Port of Los Angeles, the entertainment industry, and any of the 605 locations in Los Angeles that are considered potential high-threat.

Then there is the Emergency Service Division … the planning and preparedness people, the people developing the response information folders for those 605 locations. Their job is to make a set of plans so that an incident commander from the LAPD who arrives on the scene literally has a playbook ready for him or her, whether it's a bomb scare or an explosion or any other kind of event that you can imagine.

In conclusion Miller said it's a mammoth job being worked out on paper at this time. Ideally, plans will be stored on a computer mainframe that can, in turn, be emailed to a vehicle in the field with a cellular hook-up, so that the information on the entire layout of any public venue can be sent to anybody working the event unfolding there.

Chief of Police

Deputy Chief Brennan then introduced Chief William J. Bratton, our city's 55th Chief of Police.

Chief Bratton briefly covered the terrible traffic accident suffered by the two detectives out of Northeast Division citing many of their accomplishments in the department and asking for everyone's prayers. He said, "These two detectives are truly two of Los Angeles' finest."

He also briefly covered a joint, two-year effort with the FBI and LAPD in Newton Division, where officers had gone after two of the more notorious gangs operating in the area the night before. The operation had resulted in 31 arrests and the seizing of 15 firearms.

Chief Bratton thanked everyone for coming, saying, "It is kind of you to give up your evening to come and sit with us and talk about your issues, share your concerns and offer your suggestions."

The Chief brought everyone up to speed as to where the LAPD is right now, and gave his personal sense is of how the LAPD is doing and where it's going. He reiterated the three primary goals as set forth for the Department by himself, the Mayor and the Police Commission.

The first one is the full compliance with the Federal Consent Decree. The federal government is closely watching the Department and is currently monitoring many of the system changes being processed. LAPD is now in a "countdown phase" and the Chief of the Consent Decree Bureau, Gerry Chaleff, is going to try and move the Department into compliance in the next 335-340 days, and keep it compliant for the following two years. It will require a lot of hard work Chief Bratton is very comfortable with the efforts of the men and women of the Department. The LAPD will certainly benefit from compliance as it gets back the reputation of the Department and reinforces, once again, that LAPD is America's premier law enforcement group.

The second goal is, to the best of their ability and with limited resources at hand, to try and keep the city safe from terrorism. Along with New York and Washington Los Angeles is one of the primary targets for terrorists, and the reality of our lives is, "they are here to stay." They are not going to go away. "It is a new form of crime that is here," said the Chief, "and as John Miller indicated, many of these people, including some of the top leadership of al-Qaeda, lived here among us and, in fact, are so familiar with the area it makes a natural target. The Department is working very hard and is fighting with the City Council over the budget to have a unit that does many things, the Bomb Squad, the Hazmat Unit, who deal with the day-to-day types of threats, but when it's identified that there is a terrorist threat, they have would have a much larger unit able to focus on that threat."

The goal is one of prevention. LAPD is very good at responding … the City and State have gone through 10 major disasters over the last number of years and LAPD has learned to respond very well to those disasters. "But," said Bratton, "we're much less suited to man-made disasters such as crime and terrorism." To that end, the Department is focusing on dealing with terrorism.

"In terrorism the idea is to detect it, the idea is to interrupt it, the idea is to prevent it from ever occurring. Therein lies one of the problems. We will never know what they prevent. So in terms of justifying putting several hundred officers into that assignment, how do you prove what never happened? How do you point to success? You never really say with certainty that we prevented this and that. But we're going to work very hard at it."

"There have been any number of arrests made of people that we believe are supporting or raising money or gathering intelligence for some of these terrorist groups and working with Federal officials," the Chief reported, "and always, and I would emphasize always cautious of the Constitutional safeguards and limits that make this such a great country. We will attempt to do the best we can to protect all of us from terrorist incidents, the new paradigm, the 'new form' of crime."

"The third goal of the Department is what it has always been, to try and prevent crime, particularly gang crime, in the City … the crime that causes so much of a negative image to the rest of the world, but also the reality of many of the neighborhoods where we live, the reality of the fear that we live in with our children, the fear of gang crime. To that end," he said, "the Department is refocusing much of its energy in a united fashion with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and Sheriff's Department seeking to reach out in historic ways, ways they have never done in the past, to enlist and work with the other law enforcement agencies who also have limited resources. Working in partnership can accomplish so much more for all the agencies, as demonstrated with the Newton operation that morning."

"The beauty of working with the Feds, their statutes, the laws they work, the punishments that they are able to use are very, very significant. So instead of one of the hommies being sentenced to a California prison for 10 or 15 years where he can go and join the rest of the hommies and just kind of hang out and have a good time for themselves, they get shipped off to Idaho somewhere where they basically spend their time in isolation (laughter). So that's the beauty of the Federal system (round of applause)."

Chief Bratton went on to further state, "We have made a lot of changes in the organization. We're working very closely with our unions, in particular the union that represents our uniformed police officers. The relationship between the gentlemen on this stage and the Police Union is probably, I think, the best it's been, as they describe it, in 15 to 20 years."

He noted, "This cooperation between the union and the Department's management team has produced a significant change in the morale of the officers and civilian work force. If you can have a work force that feels good about itself you see significant improvements."

"One of the improvements for the rank and file has been the compressed work schedule. The intent is to allow them to spend more time with their families. At the same time they are working the same number of hours that they always have, just different schedules. It was anticipated that this would improve morale. One of the ways you measure morale is sick time. Since the compressed work schedule came into effect, sick time within the Department has been reduced by 40%. That is a huge decline, and it means many more officers here, with us, protecting the streets rather than being someplace else."

"We're seeing that by working together, by having contracts that are basically ones that we can both honor and not use as weapons against each other, that we can have a motivated work force and we're seeing benefits and improved relations with the unions. We're also seeing the benefits of improved relations with you."

"We have the SLO officers back, we now have also Community Service Officers in larger numbers and, as we move forward, we're going our detectives back. We have always had an extraordinarily well-trained, professional detective workforce. Somewhere, in the last 10 years or so, detectives were not where the crime was. Too many were in station houses moving paper, processing arrests rather than making arrests."

"We're looking to reorganize, in cooperation with our unions, in cooperation with our detectives, the detectives so that they will be there, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, working with the men and women in the black & whites at crime scenes, making arrests rather than just moving the paperwork for those arrests. I'm anticipating getting those 1400 detectives more appropriately assigned. We're going to see a significant benefit by having detectives at every scene where there is a shooting victim instead of just at scenes where there's homicide victims ... by having detectives, if we can find the money to equip them for DNA testing, forensic testing, giving them the tools to match the professional skills and motivation that they already have."

"So," said the Chief, "we're doing a lot, we're trying to do more, and one of the things we're trying to do and the Mayor, myself and working with the federal government is, get the federal government much more interested in this City. Not just to monitor us, but to partner with us. And so to that end, we have been visiting Washington frequently, to get them to know us in a different way rather than something to be monitored, rather there something to want to be working with. Because if we can convince them that LA is the place to come and see success, LA is the place to come and share success, we can get access to their agents, to their money, to their support."

"And to that end we have been successful so far and based on my most recent trip to Washington I think we're going to be even more successful and that's critical. Because, as you know, there are too few of us."

"The reality of the Los Angeles Police Department is that for too long, too few have been asked to do too much with too little. And that's the reality of the Los Angeles Police Department. The reason so much gets done is not because we're so well equipped, we're not, because we're so well supported because, unfortunately sometimes we're not, not because we have a great deal of money … the reason we're as successful as we are is because of you and us, the few working with the many, trying to increase the trust that breeds partnership, and with that partnership we are able to basically make more significant impact against crime, particularly gang crime."

"So," he concluded, "that's what we're doing and we're increasingly trying to keep the organization flexible, to move with the change with the times, to be one step ahead of the criminals instead of one step behind picking up the messes that they create. And I'm very comfortable after the nine months that I've been here in this organization, this great organization, that you do have some of the best cops in America working here. They work hard; they spend many, countless hours (applause). This is a Department that wants to make a difference, can make a difference and will make a difference."

Q&A

With that, Chief Bratton began to accept questions from the audience, starting with a young woman who asked, "Would you be willing to sit down with active gang members to gain an understanding of their concerns and frustrations and to decrease crime and homicides?"

The Chief's answer elicited a huge round of applause when he replied, "I would not be willing to sit down with active gang members in as much as most of them are engaged in criminal activities. I have met and will continue to meet with those have left the 'gang life,' former gang members who are attempting in many instances, based on their own success, to try and pull others away from that culture."

The young woman had a second question regarding trying to reduce the number of juvenile arrests. She asked what was the Chief's plan for that (if any) and what did he plan to do to improve relations between juveniles and police?

Chief Bratton replied that, along with the Mayor, they were going to have a "focused" strategy on going after known gang members, " … not indiscriminately throwing kids up against a wall just because they're wearing "hip-hop" clothes and the like. Several gang strategies have been put together working with the commanders, SLO's, and gang officers. The only reason officers would go after someone who is not a known gang member would be if they exhibited gang behavior such as drinking in public, raising hell, etc., not because of the way they are dressed. Hopefully by having fewer negative interactions with police officers the level of trust will increase and improve."

The next question was asked by a gentleman who wanted to know what the Chief was going to do to improve relations with the Hispanic community. The Chief said that the Department is committed to "looking like" the community they serve. Currently, the Department's officers are approximately 33% Latino, 13% Black, 5% Asian and 16% female. But he noted that the most recent recruit class is 30% female. The Department is making a very conscience effort to attract minorities. He then asked the audience to help LAPD in their recruitment efforts, sighting the great pay and benefits the Department provides.

Richard Eastman, a Commissioner on the HIV Commission for the County of Los Angeles representing 52,000 people living in Los Angeles County with HIV and AIDS (and living with HIV himself since 1994), thanked Chief Bratton, Council member Jan Perry and Sheriff Baca for helping to open the year-round homeless shelter which helped so many with HIV and AIDS, conditions made so much more difficult by being homeless.

He then asked what position did the Chief take on the use and distribution of medical marijuana and would he attend the first Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Task Force coming up on August 2nd.

The Chief stated he has no problem with medical marijuana but the federal government does and there's nothing he can do about that. He advised Mr. Eastman that a representative for LAPD would be there to watch the conference. As far as the County not supporting guidelines, that is something the HIV Commission can get the County to move towards, and something he would support, providing those guidelines are within the limits of California law.

One young woman asked, "Why don't we have the same effort, or attention, put to domestic terrorism, and what I mean by domestic terrorism is, all our gangs and drug dealer which causes more annual deaths and damage and affects more people in the community on a daily basis than any international terrorist act?"

Chief Bratton said, "Well I think that's a position a certain council member takes also, but the reality is, in New York City, international terrorism inflicted … beyond the 3,000 lives that were lost … look at the thousands of jobs that were lost, the families that lost the capacity to earn a living. So, to be quite frank with you, I'm tired of this argument that, 'Why should we expend resources on international terrorism when we have so much right here at home.'"

"Because one, we have to focus on both but, if you were to have a terrorist incident at Los Angeles International Airport, can you imagine the thousands of jobs that would be lost in your neighborhoods? Who would be the most affected if there was a terrorist act in this city? Not the bankers, etc., but you, the working class … because if that airport shuts down so all the people that service those planes, the taxi cab drivers, they lose their livelihoods, that's every bit as the violence in the neighborhoods and the effect it has. So we will continue, with out limited resources, to try and deal with international terrorism to prevent it. We have balance in what we do. We have to try and prevent as well as respond."

He then stated, "The reality is, we have a very small police force. If we had more police we could do more, but we're going to try to do more with what we have by more focused policing, by trying to certainly, and this is why we're so grateful to all of you for working with us because you're our eyes and ears, you're our voice to the City Council when we ask for more cops and more money or more equipment. You are literally the glue that holds all of this together."

The next speaker applauded the Chief for noting how wonderful the Los Angeles Police Department is. She thinks of them as the best in the world, and expressed her thanks at getting the SLO's back. She told the Chief that she wants to see SLO's and Lieutenants back on bikes and Sergeants in the field, this will help us get back Los Angeles.

Chief Bratton responded by saying he has been talking to commanding officers to try to find ways to give them more power in assigning their resources. The whole idea is to give the Chiefs, Commanders and Captains more flexibility, but hold them accountable if they get more resources. A lot of officers want to do a variety of things … they like working plain clothes, they like bike assignments, and some of them actually like the parking beats. If the Department can provide a variety of assignments it allows them to keep officers happy, motivated and most importantly, productive.

Captain Charlie Beck of Rampart addressed the next question, which was about reducing crime in MacArthur Park in Rampart Division. Chief Bratton referred to the park as LA's "crown jewel" and said just because gangs and crime have taken it over the last 20 years doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Captain Beck outlined many of the strategies being implemented now, like increased foot beats, along with future projects such as a LAPD drop station. Rampart will be working very hard in the future to clean up MacArthur Park so it will once again be a place where families can go to enjoy themselves.

A representative from one of the downtown developers improving one of the loft buildings in the area of Skid Row asked if the Department had any strategies for cleaning up the area, and what could they, as developers, do to help?

Chief Bratton pointed out that "Skid Row" is a problem that has been generating for 50 years and will not go away overnight, but there are many Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and further efforts to help keep the problem from being "cemented" into place. He asked Captain James Rubert of Central Division to address the specific question.

Captain Rubert further reiterated that there are a lot of different strategies that they are employing in Central Area such as a major partnership with the BIDs who handle environmental issues, increasing foot beats on Broadway, improving Main Street between 9th and 3rd Streets, focusing on high-end crime and deploying plain clothes officers, etc., and by working with homeless wet and cold shelters to get the homeless off the streets by doing whatever they can to get people into shelters and get them into services.

The shelters and service providers are entering into partnerships with the Department as they're starting to realize that LAPD does not want to put people in jail … the Department does not see that as a solution. If a criminal act is being performed an arrest will be made, but if it's an environmental problem, officers try to get that person into service or treatment with special care and sensitivity being directed towards HIV and AIDS suffers. The Captain reported that there's even a Homeless Community Neighborhood Watch where people are actually telling the drug dealers, "You're not welcome at Central City East."

Captain Rupert said, "You call it Skid Row … we're going to call it 'Central City East'. It's time to say, 'No more Skid Row.' Central Area is doing everything to make Los Angeles and downtown a banner city for this Nation to be proud of."

The final participant thanked the Chief for the fine job he was doing and said the community stood with the Department.

As the Operation Central Bureau meeting drew to a close, Deputy Chief Gary Brennan remarked, "I just wanted to echo the appreciation of the Chief to you. This is encouraging, this is how problems get solved, this is how good work gets done, this is how crime is reduced. It is in partnership, the police working with the community, it's a very simple premise. Those of you who are here tonight understand that. Thank you very much. Spread the word, and continue to work with us, as we look forward to working with you."