There were 314 homicides, an 18.01% decrease from the 2008 total of 383.  Last year, violent crime was down 10.8%, property crimes decreased 8.0% and Part I Crimes fell 8.6%.  That's 10,864 fewer victims of crime.  In addition, there were 323 fewer shooting victims this year in comparison to the same time period a year ago.

Many scholars, industry experts and critics would try to attribute the decline to several factors other than cops.  But the cause and reason for the decline in crime is clear, it is you and your commitment and dedication to the people of all the communities we protect and serve.  This successful result is undeniable proof that LAPD personnel, both sworn and civilian, do not have a lack of strength, a lack of talent or a lack of will.

Again, particularly impressive is your success in battling gangs in their attempts to dominate community life in Los Angeles.  You have been able to stop the motives and mode of operation of street gangs in nearly every category, reducing gang homicides by 15.6%, aggravated assaults by 9.5%, shooting victims by 15.1%, and decrease gang crime overall by 11.2% since 2008. 

Reorganization

As your Chief, I have begun the process of strategically reorganizing the Department.  One of my goals is to streamline internal and external communications.  I have reduced the number of direct reports to the Office of the Chief of Police from 8 to 6 and will focus on consolidating entities that perform like functions, which include the Office of Operations, the Office of Special Operations, the Office of Administrative Services, Professional Standards Bureau, Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing and the Chief of Staff.  This allows the Department to be more efficient and coordinated and will allow for more fiscal responsibility. 

I have begun to fulfill my promise of returning people to the field from specialized units.  I started in my own office by taking a Captain and Lieutenant position and returning them to field assignments.  This was followed by the dismantling of the Crime Reduction and Enforcement of Warrants or “CREW” Task Force which allows the 144 officers to be assigned to patrol.

Goals

An effective leader will tell you that in order to reach a goal you must have a plan, otherwise you just have a thought.  As individuals our quality is reflected in the standards we set for ourselves. While I have established specific goals for 2010, much of what I expect of you is best practices in policing that we have worked hard to ingrain in the culture of our organization over the past several years.  The goals and objectives by which I will hold you and myself accountable are; Constitutional Policing; Crime Reduction; Prevention of Terrorist Incidents; Maintaining the Personnel Strength of the Department; and Employee Wellness.

Constitutional Policing – Even though we have been released from judicial oversight of the Federal Consent Decree we are still responsible to police in a constitutional manner.  We must never break the law in order to enforce the law.  To do so brings shame on our profession and alienates the people we serve, the community on whose cooperation we depend if we are to be effective.  No officer is justified in breaking the law on the grounds of expediency.

Crime Reduction – This is the true measure of our strategic hard work; keeping the people of Los Angeles safe and helping to provide quality of life.  Our crime reduction initiatives have been tested and proven to be successful.  We will continue our success as it is our new standard.

Prevention of Terrorist Incidents – The Los Angeles Police Department is at the forefront of a nationwide effort to evolve local police counter-terrorism strategies and capabilities and protect the City of Los Angeles from acts of terrorism.  The mission is to Prevent terrorism by effectively sharing information aimed at disrupting terrorist's operational capability and addressing the underlying causes associated with the motivational component; to Protect the public and critical infrastructure by leveraging private sector resources and hardening targets; to Pursue terrorists and those criminal enterprises that support them; and to Prepare the citizenry and the city government for consequences associated with terrorists operations against the city.

Maintaining the Personnel Strength of the Department – We are all being asked to do more with less - less work time, fewer resources and a reduced workforce.  We are going through tough economic times and I know your workload, especially for those in our civilian workforce, has increased.   My goal is to do all I can to work with our city leaders to maintain the strength of the Department.  I encourage each and every one of you to make it your priority to maintain a quality work ethic.  We are all very busy and I want to make sure we are all accomplishing our goals.

Employee Wellness – To get our work done everyone has to show up to roll call and to their desks in good health.  Not taking care of your physical and mental well being will show, and it will carry into our work productivity.  It is highly important that investigative, administrative and other sworn officers maintain a continuous physical regimen to ensure occupational requirements. 

Process over results

Policing is the only important profession in which process is always more important than results.  No one cares how a surgeon saves a life as long as the operation is a success.  In policing we must zealously guard the way we complete our tasks in order to maintain the most important asset of the organization, our credibility.