Mayor James Hahn hosts a community policing roundtable
with special guest Chief William Bratton
November 8, 2002

Reported by LACP

Participating in a first-ever event, a modest number of community leaders and stakeholders were invited to join Chief William Bratton and the Mayor in a roundtable discussion focusing on Community Policing in Los Angeles. The event took place at the Salesian Boys and Girls Club on East 4th Street, and Councilman Nick Pacheco, who represents the Boyle Heights area, was also in attendance.

A letter from the Mayor explained this was to be an opportunity for the new Chief to discuss "... mutual priorities, concerns and expectations for Community Policing."

Some 38 community members braved the most serious rainstorm of the year to attend. There was no lack of enthusiasm for this first-time-ever Community Policing roundtable.

LACP's Bill Murray was delighted to have been invited, representing you, the active participants of the Los Angeles Community Policing forum and LACP.org.

The roundtable discussion began with opening remarks from the Mayor, the Chief and the Councilman. Then the community members introduced themselves.

All parts of the City were represented, and the participants were seated around four long tables, arranged in a square so everyone faced each other.

Attendees included community leaders from a variety of backgrounds and from as far away as Woodland Hills, the Harbor area and the West side. Others came from South Central, Little Tokyo and Northeast LA. Still others arrived from Pacoima, North Hollywood and Boyle Heights.

Although a few of the group held an official post in City government, they were in the minority, and attended as stakeholders and community members. C-PABs and Neighborhood Watch members had been invited, too.

The meat of the roundtable was the "Question / Comment" period, during which the Mayor selected individuals to speak. Although there was time for fewer than half the invited community members to speak, those who did get called on were on point, and elicited good responses from the Chief, the Mayor and occasionally from Councilman Nick Pacheco.

We have provided the full transcription of what they said below.

Opening Remarks

Mayor Hahn: "It's good to see you're all here … I'm glad to see you survived the traffic on the first rainy day we've had in 2002, I think. We had the driest year on record, Chief Bratton, in LA … we needed it.

Thank you all for coming from all over the City to be with us.

One of the reasons that I really was so convinced that William Bratton was the right Police Chief for this City, is because he believes so strongly that the faster and the only way to make sure communities are safe is to involve the community, to have a real partnership between the community and the police department.

Community policing is the cornerstone, is a full system of public safety and that's something I believed in for many years as well. And one of the key things about today is that we're not going to do all the talking, we're going to be doing the listening … listening to you, to your concerns and your questions. We really do want this to be a partnership.

Many of you are community leaders, neighborhood leaders that have been involved with the police department on many issues for many years. You are the practice of community policing and we want to hear from you.

With a police force that's just a shade over 9000, for 3.8 million people in the City of Los Angeles there's no way they can do it without you. There's no way we can keep the city safe without you. We do need you to be our partners, to help us solve crime problems, to work together to solve some of these chronic locations that plague our neighborhoods.

I learned that, as City Attorney, working with the community, if we could identify the places where crime was centered and focus on eliminating that problem at that particular location you can make a big difference in all the neighborhoods. Sometimes that one location is the breeding grounds for most of the crime in the area and we can't do that without you.

You are our eyes, our ears and our hands … helping hands helping us make this community safer.

The Chief and I just came from a few blocks away painting out graffiti, and I want to tell you that Bill Bratton is a great graffiti stopper here and he's a good painter, so if you're out painting during the week, he's the guy to call (laughter).

Now I'd like to introduce to you, and I know he has some remarks, the Chief of Police of LAPD, Bill Bratton…"

Chief Bratton: "My remarks will be brief because we are here to listen to you.

I feel pretty good that two weeks ago today the Mayor swore me in, in his office, and as I look around this room many of you I've already met three of four times in the course of those two weeks. It's a reflection of the activism of many members of this community to deal with the issues that are plaguing this city.

Something as seemingly as minor as graffiti, which you know is not minor. The Director of this building just showed me pictures of the gang markings on the windows, the "acid graffiti" that is now plaguing the city. We just came from working with the Home Boys [Home Boy Industries] on painting over an underpass that two gangs had been marking up, an indication that there's trouble brewing between those two gangs.

The Mayor reflected that in the state of California it is a felony if you cause more than $400.00 damage. Certainly, the damage to the windows of this Center are in excess of $400.00 because you have to replace the window. Part of our mission, your mission, our role, is to convince the other partners in the criminal justice system, the prosecutors, the judges in particular, that this is a problem, graffiti, it destroys neighborhoods. It is a sign of many more significant issues particularly the issue of gang violence.

The Mayor has insisted that we will move forward to take on the gangs, not just the manifestation of the gangs, the violence, the graffiti, but also the culture. It's not going to be easy, it's going to be hard, it's going to take a lot of hard work.

The Mayor often talks about the fact that it's an honor to be able to be a public servant, to serve to the public. That's certainly how I view public service and why I wanted to get back into it and why I wanted to come to LA. Not only to serve you, but to work with you, not just for you.

I say it's reflective of working together, working with you. 9,000 is clearly not enough, 9,000 police officers, but there are 3 ½ million of you. 3 ½ million plus 9,000 should be enough to start getting some things done.

It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of coordination and I'm looking forward to working with you, working with this Mayor who shares, and in fact, I think exceeds even my embrace of a community policing philosophy … partnership, problem solving, prevention. It's that simple, the three P's.

And you have certainly reflected those three P's. You want to work in partnership, we want focus on the problems that are destroying the neighborhoods, and most specifically, you want to prevent them from recurring again.

We can do it, you can do it ... together we can fulfill the Mayor's vision of making this the safest largest city in America. One City, one vision, one goal. Safety for you, safety for your children, safety for the many millions of visitors who come to this city to enjoy it, who bring jobs, who bring tax revenue, tax revenue to help build those schools, pay for those hospitals, and hopefully, at some point in time, maybe even paying for more police officers. Thank you."

Councilman Pacheco: "Good morning everyone. I apologize for being late, but I had a few conversations with our good friends at Home Boy Industries about how much more work we could do to fight graffiti. That's where the Mayor and I, and the Chief were … just doing some work.

But obviously take advantage of this time. I would just encourage you to be very blunt, be very frank. The Chief is from New York. He probably thinks we speak mildly around here so feel free to be brave, up front about what your concerns are. We really need to know where the most problematic areas are and what you think would be helpful from our end in making a change and bring about a better community for everyone.

I would simply encourage you, as I tell everyone that comes into my community, just extend the same amount of respect to the Chief that you would give me, and everything should go fine. Thank you."

Questions / Comments and Responses:

At this point Mayor Hahn began to select individual attendees to ask a question or make a comment.

Question: "Can we look forward to having more police officers in our neighborhoods?"

Chief Bratton: "As you know, over the last several months the Mayor, the Police Department and the Department of Personnel made a significant effort to both keep officers in the Department who might normally leave to go to other environments, and to attract back into the Department officers who left and found that they missed the LAPD. And then thirdly, and maybe most importantly, to attract new people into the organization.

The good news is those efforts have paid off, and are continuing to pay off. We have now a number of recruit classes fully staffed, and those classes will begin rolling out on a regular basis, strengthening the number of officers. So, we have fewer officers leaving the Department, attrition has slowed down dramatically, and we have the benefit now of these fully staffed recruit classes coming out. The first class I believe will come out on November 15th.

The decisions that we'll have to then make is how do we assign these officers to deal with many of the issues you're raising … the idea that everybody wants more, certainly. As the Mayor has pointed out though there are still only 9,000 of us and we're going to attempt to take these additional numbers, several hundred additional officers, to have as much impact as we can to concerns of crime and disorder.

But maybe more importantly, is how we use the existing workforce, the 9,000 who are already here. Clearly over the last year or two … they admit it, you know it … they have not been doing all that they could. For a variety of reasons morale in this Department really diminished the amount of impact they were having in the neighborhoods.

We are seeking to reenergize them. The Mayor has certainly strengthened them with the return of the Senior Lead Officer program coming back. We're modifying the discipline system that was felt to be too onerous … I certainly believe that was the case … and so we are now saying to those officers, "We need you back back on the streets. We need you energized, but we need you doing it in a civil, respectful manner. We cannot lower the Constitutional thresholds."

If we could get back the 20% decline in activity that has been documented over the last year it's an improvement of almost an extra 1,000 officers, just if we can get them back to working to what they were doing a year ago. And through the Mayor's leadership, and I hope mine joining with him, that we will get them reenergized and get them working in partnership with you. Not just for you but with you."

Mayor Hahn: "One other thing … in this year's budget we asked LAPD to take 100 officers who were not out in the field and put them out in the field. And that's part of this year's budget. And I've asked Chief Bratton to do a top-to-bottom review, which he mentioned, of the Department itself to see if there are more positions that can be moved out into the field.

I wish I knew the day and the number, because I know that's what you're interested in …" How many, Mayor, and when are they going to be there?" But we know you need more officers at Dolores Mission and Hollenbeck … there was four times the crime issues … and we're going to work it as fast as we can."

Question: "In doing some research on community policing …the core components of community policing, I feel, is community partnership, problem-solving, as well as "change management." And "change management" is a real critical area in terms of managing from top down, bottom-up, side-to-side however, whatever your plans are, but the most important thing is going to be changing the image, and changing the culture within the Department. What are your plans in terms of working from a "change management" standpoint, to change the culture?"

Chief Bratton: "I've only been here two weeks and she's saying Depaaaaatment like I say it (laughter). We're going to change the language … to paaaaaaatneship, depaaaaatment.

She's right on the money ... that what is essential and critical to all of your efforts, and the efforts of the Mayor and City government is a change in culture in the Department … a Department that needs to open itself to working with you, for you, and collectively together.

I'm encouraged but what I've found in the two short weeks I've been here as well as during the whole application process where I spend a lot of time out here meeting people and networking. This is a Department I think that has matured in that it understands that it can't do the job alone.

It's a Department that also wants its image back, wants its pride back, and to get that back they understand that they need to build trust through you.

And so, I'm encouraged by the willingness of the union, from the rank and file, from the leadership, that there is this appreciation that an organization, which for most of it's history was known as working apart from the community, wants to work in partnership with the community.

So, that's what I'm all about. As far as I'm there … I'm known as a change agent. In each organization I have worked to change its culture from re-active to pro-active, and in this case work to change a culture that for 30 years attempted to do it "Jack Webb" style, "Just the facts, Ma'm. We'll take care of it. You give us the information, and it's our responsibility."

It's a shared responsibility. And the Mayor has made it quite clear that when we talked in our recruiting conversations that, while the Department is small, with 9,000, the community activism is extraordinarily large in this City. So that's how that can be done.

And that's the culture that we're going to look to change … doing it with you instead of, unfortunately in some communities, doing it to you."

Suggestion: "Our community is 3 square miles, 19,000 residents. In our community we've had over 30 homicides this last year. It's very critical for our children … we have beautiful buildings … we just were built a beautiful library … but if the community is not safe we're not going to be using those facilities. What I had proposed is to have a voluntary community police patrol in the area. Make it a pilot program, to see how it works. These patrols will be of course trained by the LAPD, 25 to 50 hours, and their job will be to observe and report only... If this works in our community then we could maybe implement this to the whole Los Angeles area ... and I would like you to think about that."

Mayor Hahn: "It's a good suggestion. You know there's a number of volunteers who volunteer to do work in the City. The greatest number of them are volunteering to work in the Police Department to take the load off of police officer's paperwork and other things.

In the Harbor Division I know there's a group of volunteers who help with teen curfew laws. They meet the parents at the police station and talk to them about the fact that their kids are out too late at night. In the Valley we have our community tagger task force, which is a number of volunteers who are working with the Police Department on identifying problem locations for graffiti and tagging.

I think your idea of getting more volunteers as organized teams in Pacoima is one we ought to look at because, again as the Chief keeps reminding me … that I know, Chief, you don't think 9,000 officers is enough. We need to work on that. But that's all we've got right now, and we do need your help.

I like your idea a lot, and we ought to explore that further."

Question: "... a concern is that the diversity of the community has changed over the last 25 or 30 years. And with that being the case, I do understand that community policing is going to be one of the hot topics on your agenda. In what ways, as far as either strategies and / or programs do you plan to implement to assist in that diverse make-up and taking away the aspect of possibly seeing things as a threat more than as synergistic help?"

Chief Bratton: "One of the good things about the LAPD at this particular time is that it is already a minority-majority Department. The Department that I formerly worked with in New Your City despite major efforts continues to hover around 32% minority makeup … black and Hispanic.

Here we have over 51%, I think is the most recent figure, and that number is growing with each recruit class, that percentage.

What the Mayor and I have talked about is trying to find additional ways to get young people from within the City, going through the Explorer program, through some of the special high schools, that can literally ensure that the future growth of the Department, both in terms of replacement as well as maybe possible growth in the future, is as much as possible from within the City.

And that that growth would then if it comes from within the City and as much as this is a minority-majority City, it would ensure that we are getting new officer from within this community.

We are making significant efforts. I attended two weeks ago at the Academy, there's a recruiting effort to attract particularly women, and particularly minority women into the Department. The Department was very very pleased that we had well in excess of two times the number of people who'd showed up the year before, reflective of the efforts being made to make the Department more attractive. And just from meeting so many of the people there that day … the vast majority of people who where there that day, seeking to get information about the Department, were minority ... Latinos, and American.

And all the other various communities that we have that make this City such a strong place. So I think we're committed to it, but it's also happening on its own. And if we can change the image of the Department, that it's one that is open to minorities, in all of our units and specialty divisions.

And that was certainly reflected at the recruiting conference, that you are much more diverse in this City than New York. In New York City I did not have any female helicopter pilots. I had, I think, one female motorcycle officer.

So, you are much farther along than any other Department, so that's a strength that I can work with."

Comment: "From what I've seen over the past few weeks it seem that our group pretty much parallels a lot of the things that you have been saying. And I like what I hear."

He went on to say, "We have worked very closely with the LAPD for roughly about 11 years. In the beginning it was kind of "hit and miss" but after about two years we are working very strongly. We have a surveillance team, we have the patrol, we have a bike-trained patrol that was trained by LAPD instructors.

We think we've have gone the extra mile, and definitely have come more than half way to meet up with the LAPD. I can help you, our group can help you, and I think the rest of the community can help you also, because of that respect.

But it's something like "help me help you" or "I can help you help me." We'd seen a lot of progress up until about two years ago, and in the last two years obviously we've taken a real dive ..."

Chief Bratton: "Just briefly, and with the interest of time, because I think we are here to hear from as many as possible … what changed two years ago? As a matter of fact I'm very familiar with your area, since you're literally there in the shadows of police headquarters and City Hall … what changed?"

Comment: "Obviously, we're right next to skid row. We're the closest community that you can see … a residential and business district. Part of it is a lack of security on our part, on our side. We do pay for a private security program around the area, which started at night because of the business break-ins 15 years ago ... people breaking into our stores at night. We've since changed it to during the day …the panhandling, the car break-ins …these are all issues that are quality of life issues.

We are graduating into some higher crimes like robberies which we don't like to see. The concern that we have for the future is that we can get back on track…

There are a lot of different laws that are not being enforced … there's injunctions to limit the scope of police officers trying to do their job. I feel your ground troop officers have had their hand tied behind their backs in some respects. We need more than just the Chief's help, we also need the City Attorney's help, following through with them. Without that we don't really have any teeth in our bite."

Councilman Pacheco: "Chief, I just wanted to add a little to what he's talking about. I think there a was a period there where there was injunctions ordered and recently there's a lawsuit … [pursuant to] limiting the scope of the police officer's ability to do their job. We recently met with a number of industrial community members, Jan Perry, the other Councilmember who shares this area, the City Attorney and myself … all met … and we've all basically tried to empower our City Attorney to go back into court and really aggressively fight these little nuances.

And if there's one recommendation I could make because it's a requirement and I really think we need to develop a team of supervisors who really understand the little legal nuances that are going on in these court filings. Because what happens is, there's a nuance that the lawyers who are advocating for ... different people to put into court …

And they really are nuances. But when you talk to an officer they think it's a broad stroke policy, and so they think their hands are completely tied. And I think if there's one thing I would recommend, Chief, it's that we talk how we really refine what really happens in court and what it really really means verses a broad stroke of saying, "Oh, no you can't touch him … or, you can't do this now."

That's just one recommendation and I think you have two partners in Jan Perry and myself. We just recently introduced that motion to follow Santa Monica's anti-sleeping over on their City streets ordinance. So, we do have to meet people and we will definitely be working on that issue."

Comment: They welcomed community policing back into Los Angeles, stating that "this issue united all 18 Divisions, and it opened the door for new leadership, it opened the door for you to be our new Chief …" They'd brought a packet of additional suggestions but wanted to just briefly touch on some observations they'd observed throughout the City.

"We strongly support SLOs remaining the focal point, the go-to person for problem solving in each Division. They are our community policing experts, especially those with five years plus on the job as a SLO." They suggested the commander of the SLO's meet with the SLOs every few months in their offices.

They strongly recommend that each Division should have a dedicated graffiti officer. Neighborhood Watch members should each ask someone to join up a new member. They think LAPD should promote the Community Police Academy, a great into to LAPD. They said every Division should have a Citizen Surveillance Team, and there should be community interpreters.

"Bring back Operation Sparkle, a great, popular, successful event held every year. It got the community really involved."

They want the Chief to look also to the jails, and the detention officers. "Look at the Santa Ana PD. They have implemented community policing in their jail system." Officers in the jail systems feel left out, but would like to be part of the team.

Command staff from Captains on up should be out there periodically riding as full partners out in the field.

"You have some wonderful officers with wonderful ideas and enthusiasm... We look to you for leadership, to lead by example. Please be accessible and have an open door policy. Encourage the officers, from various ranks, to visit you once a week."

Chief Bratton: "Thank you, very much. I'm getting a copy of that list? OK, great. Very quickly … just a brief description of Operation Sparkle … that's a new one to me."

Comment: "It's a once a year program in November where the Community Relations Officers and the SLO's reached out to different neighborhoods and different Neighborhood Watch groups. Everybody at a local park grabbed a bucket of paint and a mop … whatever … removing bulky items …"

Chief Bratton: "Oh so we were doing pretty good this morning. It was more like Operation Splatter (laughter). Comment: But it was just a great way for people to take ownership in their own community. And everybody was involved. Chief Bratton: "When I lived in Boston and I was Chief of the Metropolitan Police we policed most of the parks and the rivers. Every year there'd be a Spring Clean-up along the Charles River and I used to love engaging in that. Every year literally thousands of people along the 20 miles of that river just cleaning it up every Spring. OK."

Comment: "I was just recently reading your book where you talked about squeegee people in New York. Well here we have panhandlers, and a lot of people are afraid to even walk into their local drug store because they're just aggressively pursued by panhandlers." Chief Bratton: "Do you have laws here that preclude people from begging within a certain distance from ATMs?"

Mayor Hahn: "Well we did pass a law … a draft on aggressive panhandling … The courts have unfortunately sent it back to the drawing board because they said it went too far. But you can't obstruct somebody's movement. That's still against the law. And we do have laws aimed at ATMs and the front of stores ... near bus benches. What we're trying to do … we came up with a comprehensive strategy, and we're still fighting that legal battle."

Councilman Pacheco: "Chief, I think the Mayor did a very good job of answering the question. But he also highlighted that the nuance of … OK, our panhandling ordinance got sent back but we have other laws that work equally effectively and again our officers only hear, "Oh, the law was struck down on aggressive panhandling so I can't do anything now." And that's sort of that nuance I think we should really inject into our training or some mechanism. These cases get the headlines in the paper and then you start believing the mythology that there's just no options. And so our officers don't go out there and aggressively deal with the problem. And so, I just wanted to report that point."

Suggestions: She spoke about the need to build relationships between the SLO's and the City Departments. Senior Lead Officers' frequently identify problem areas (a need for better lighting, illegal dumping, etc.) and then they get stuck … not getting a good response from City Departments. The other City Departments need to understand that when they do respond they have a huge success rate on fighting crime.

Secondly, she'd like to begin to build relationships with the Neighborhood Councils. Community Policing can grow and prosper if we immediately begin to build relationship with the Neighborhood Councils. The Senior Lead Officer program can play this role.

Finally she'd like the LAPD to begin to work with technology a little more, by taking advantage of e-mail. "An e-mail crime alert system between LAPD Divisions and Neighborhood Watches would be a very quick way to get everybody with crime trends in the neighborhood."

Chief Bratton: "Let me follow up on a couple of issues on these points. We had a meeting in the last couple of days about the use of e-mail as a way of getting alerts out. You're very familiar with the new system on the highways when we have a missing child … about using that. And we are looking at the potential of literally having an e-mail "burst list" that if we have an issue we can get it out very quickly and take advantage of technology. So we had a significant discussion about that.

We're also hoping when we get the new COMPSTAT system, FASTRAC, up and running early next year that my vision would be to literally put it on the website. That what my command officers are looking at when they do COMPSTAT there's really no reason why you in the neighborhood, those of you equipped with computers couldn't bring it up on your screen "… here's where the crimes are occurring, here's where the arrests are occurring, here's information on those …"

Because you are our eyes, and yes, you are our partners, and you are our Neighborhood Watches, and need to know what we're looking for. Similarly, if there's a crime pattern developing in your neighborhood, we'd give you a burst on the e-mail list that we have this happening. So we're going to try to take advantage of that technology, certainly.

I'm also actually very interested in your neighborhood … my wife and I will be moving in there sometime after the first of the year, so, we'll be looking forward to seeing you over there. You can give me some good hints on where to shop and where to eat."

Question: "I think one of the strong points about your appointment was your familiarity, your history, your ability to deal with diversity, and the complexity of a large metropolis city. How do you, on the one hand vary, read, serve a community that is that diverse, and, on the other hand, respond to the particular issues and challenges of those individual constituencies?

I mean, all of us around the table represent someone, and the context into which you have come is one that certainly has the challenges in terms of your position. I heard you talk about the desire of the Department and of the officers to regain the image, to regain pride.

How do you deal with, what is your plan to deal with, issues of trust, not only in the Department as a whole, but in your position and you particularly, in a constituency that's going to have questions about that … that kind of relationship? How do you build those kinds of bridges into that community, in general, and in particular into the African American community?

Chief Bratton: "You used the word trust. You're going to hear that word quite a lot from me. Both in terms of, literally every time I go to speak, but maybe in the form eventually of a campaign.The Mayor and I have talked about this, that certainly what is necessary between the City, the police force, and its communities is the rebuilding of a trust that has eroded, particularly in minority communities of this City.

So, part of my mission … I've made use of the term "job one" … job one is the regaining of that trust through our actions, through our openness, through our transparency. In other words, you're going to hear quite often "transparency." In hearing the crime information through COMPSTAT for example. When we've got a problem, I don't like sweeping things under the rug. I like "… let's air it out, let's face it …"

[I know people] in policing who had no hair on the top of their head because they swept so much under the rug their chair was rubbing against the ceiling. (laughter) So, the little bit of hair I have left I intend to keep, so there won't be anything going under the rug.

What I also bring, I think to this City, this community, is an awareness of the issues of what it's like to be black, what it's like to be brown, what it's like to be from a different place. I've spent a lot of the last six years in Latin America. A lot of my consultancy was in Latin America, so I have an appreciation of so many of the Latino residents of this City, what they came from, where the police were to be feared, where government was to be also feared. And so why when I first come here, that there is this hesitancy to begin to trust. And so I think that my own experiences, both as a young police officer, as well as more recently, have helped me to understand.

And I always listen. Last night I had my adjutant … my adjutant is a black Lieutenant, Lieutenant Thomas, a wonderful, wonderful young man, talented … and after we got done with our paperwork around 9:30 last night, he stayed around and he started talking about what it was like to grow up as a young black man in South Central ... trying to go to college … and the hassling that he received by white police officers as he traveled around the City. Here's a young man who had so much going for him … two parents, two grandparents … and the hassles that he would encounter. And it's amazing that he went on the police force … that he wanted to go onto a police force that just hassled him all the time.

But it's listening to those experiences, what you talk about, sitting down with officers, to hear, what is it like to grow up in the City, to not be white, to be somehow different. And, so, the strength that you're looking for, I think I possess and I think the Mayor, I hope, detected that. We spent many hours at the Getty Mansion … that I look very different than so many of you but I'd like to think I have the same heart that you have, and I think that I'm very quickly acquiring the love that you have for this City. And I hope I'll be able to prove that as I move forward."

Comment: She thanked the Chief for attending the recent Police Commission meeting held at the Church, saying that this was "a prime example of community policing at its best." Over 500 community members attended, including politicians, police officers, grassroots organizations, and Neighborhood Council people, a coming together because of the area's primary concerns, the homicide rate at Hollenbeck Division. But the overall message was "... yes, we're concerned about the homicides, but the community supports the officers ..."

The concerns include that there are no narcotic officer being deployed out of Hollenbeck Division. She said it would be great to de-centralize Narcotics Division and have the officers work out of Hollenbeck directly. The crime rate has dropped significantly, and there have been no homicides, because DEA officers were deployed in the area over the last couple of months. But they are leaving, so she's concerned that crime will go back up.

The community needs gang enforcement units 24/7, not an occasional influx of Metro and Mounted officers. She said, "People underestimate the mentality of the gangs. They're organized, they communicate, and they've been getting a lot of direction from within the prisons." She asked for the establishment of a task force, or the implementation of the CLEAR program, which exist in Northeast, Pacific and Newton Division. The task force could include the City Attorney, Probation, Parole, and could do sweeps because, she said, "... they know where these gangbangers are, they know where the warrants are."

She pointed out that, because of gangs, local children are not able to play out in their own front yards. "We need to give that back to them." There's also a lot of fear of retaliation within the community. There needs to be a better way for the residents to communicate information with the Department, perhaps anonymously.

She said we need to "... send a clear message to these criminals that 'that's it.' We have a new Chief, who backs us up."

Comment: There were two areas he was concerned about. The first was the many gay and lesbian issues that are external, and he said that these issues have an effect on the Department's ability to apprehend those who committing serious hate crimes against residents.

Secondly, he'd been asking the former administration, and not getting a good response about "... how are we creating the environment in the culture within the Police Department that will be much more open and sensitive to gay and lesbian officers, so that they could come out of the closet within the Department and become much more powerful leaders?" The attitude within the Department and its sensitivity needs to change.

Last, he understood that we do not have a proportianal number of Latino officers in the command staff, and this tells him there's something going on in the Police Department that's not fair. He asked how the Chief would change this, if it's true.

Chief Bratton: "Let's pursue your first concern, that this is a Department of the City that is, I believe, very sensitive to the issue of hate crime of all kinds. It's very appropriate that you're sitting beside a leader from the Museum of Tolerance. I had the opportunity during my trips around the City to have spent the day with her at the Museum of Tolerance, and it's involved significantly in the training of the recruits to, in a very creative way at that Museum, expose them to the history of hate, and to watch for the early signs of it.

As to the very specific issue and concern on your part, the issue of hate directed violence against gays … every morning, in my morning report when I call in, to give you a sense of the prioritization of the Department related to that, that that is, next to the murders, the crime that I hear the most about. That even as "minor" as some of those acts might be there's a recognition, like broken windows, that the minor, if left undeterred, certainly leads to the larger issues.

I have an intimacy with the issue in that my own sister is gay, and her and her partner, and some of the issues they face working in the post office, directed against them …"

[An officer who is openly gay serves] as a model in a sense that under him he talks to the Department with an open statement of his particular preference. We have, I believe, in the recruit classes I'll be graduating on November 15th, I believe there's an openly gay officer that has come through that process that's kind of an indication that, in that way, we can be more tolerant and understanding. I am as committed to these issues as anything else.

So, feel that you have a friend and an advocate that will work in a variety of ways to try and strengthen our ability to attract all types. And I think one of the reasons that the Mayor hired me was that I have a long history I this area. I was the first liaison to the gay community in the Boston Police Department in 1975. A long time ago. So I've been well aware of it for a long time.

Lastly, we will do all that we can to insure that the Department in its training, and its responsiveness, and its understanding, is seen as an open environment, for all to come in.

On the Latino issue, and it's an issue for blacks as well as other minorities, we don't have anywhere near the appropriate representation at senior levels. It's going to make it very difficult for me now, for example, losing the two senior black members of the organization. Certainly the loss of Chief Gascon was of concern. And I have a limited field to work down to my Captains level.

The Department has many efforts underway to encourage officers "extra-curricular" training opportunities and exposure in which we purposefully seek to test the poor history of getting minorities to get into those processes and pass them successfully … working that environment. One of the things I will look at is some of the parts of the examination process that might work against people being promoted.

One of them was expressed by Lieutenant Thomas last night, when he was talking about the difficulty of getting promoted or even getting onto this job. The fact that he grew up in South Central in the interview process. "… well, you know these gang members, don't you?" And he says, "How can I live in South Central and not know them? They live all around me." "Well, then, you associate with them, and association with them is basically something the Department frowns on."

How do you not associate with them when you're 13 or 14 years old? So, even in the recruitment, just the way we ask questions, just the way we look at it … that, "You live in a gang area? Well, if you're from the inner City, we don't want you we want [people from] those lily-white suburbs." So I'm well aware of some of the psychology works against this issue."

Comment: "I feel that having an officer, in the face of people, helps a lot. A one-on-one. I'm fully in favor of your foot patrols, of the bicycles..."

But she thinks the best of all is the Mounted Police. She said they look good, perform crowd control, and are great for public relations. She remarked that we were, after all, a Western City.

Finally she noted that girls love horses, saying, "and you must recruit some girls." She brought a list of where the Department might find good horses.

Comment: She said that she would like to see LAPD build a stronger line of communication with other local police departments. Many of the gang members living in Boyle Heights haven't moved out of the area. But others live just across City boarders, and continue to return to the area and are continuing to do criminal activity in City neighborhoods.

She related several instances where this had occurred. Gang members will move out of an area but return to their home turf to commit crimes. Sharing of information freely will make all the difference.

Because of a lack of communication within the Department, LAPD many times is ill informed about gang and other criminal activity that's being done. The Sheriff Department does a much better job of tracking information about "crossover gangs" ... information that LAPD does not have.

Chief Bratton: "In my technology briefing yesterday it's my understanding that we are beginning now to share with the Sheriff's Department our crime information, on as a real-time basis as we can, so … a beginning in that move.

And as we seek to expand the FASTRAC / COMPSTAT system in the Department we're also going to see for the first time if we can actively encourage representatives from the various Cities, as well as the County, that we interact with, to come to those meetings for just that purpose."

Councilman Pacheco: "I think one of the things that you've seen us bring to the City last year was the Neighborhood Prosecutor program. Many of you have worked very closely with your Neighborhood Prosecutors, and that is also something that will help us deal with these issues because there's nothing like having an individual, like in our case Rita Venegas, who can track down that information with all the Departments working in conjunction with Hollenbeck, and LAPD.

We have a similar situation in El Sereno where the person who lives on a the borderline with South Pasadena, and the Neighborhood Prosecutor worked with that Department … and she got all the proper documentation to use the tools and the laws that I believe Mayor Hahn, as the City Attorney, had put in place here in the City of LA … all the nuisance laws … and so we are definitely making strides in that direction. And please support our Neighborhood Prosecutors."

Comment: "One of my concerns I have is about the youth programs that the Los Angeles Police Department has, and will they increase, and will the ones that were depleted because of deployment issues be revamped? The DARE, Jeopardy, and PAL programs encourage our youth and diversity.

One of the things really key here … we can talk about all the resources, we can talk about all the homicides … because all of us here at the table share a virtual interest here and that is public safety. One of my concerns is that the youth will have attention just as much as the gangs can get attention."

Chief Bratton: "There are several issues that relate to the involvement of the Department in youth focused programs. Here we're looking to really broaden its narrow focus on drug prevention to really gang prevention … the idea of maybe extending the mandate of those officers as we try to take on the culture of gangs. In a similar fashion to what DARE attempts to do, we'll look at broadening of it to involve those officers doing that program.

I'm very supportive of these types of efforts … Explorer programs … trying to get police officers into the lives of young people … but it's an extraordinary complex one, both in terms of the availability of resources but also, being quite frank, it's a decrease from my budget, with the various laws that govern how we must pay our officers that literally ... if I send an officer off for example for a weekend on one of these Explorer trips, after his eight hours I'm going to pay him eight hours overtime for each twenty-four hours that he's away. It is phenomenally costly.

Not that the officers don't want to do it, but the laws require that we pay a phenomenal amount of money and in a very tight budget situation these are some of the balancing acts that I have to look at, as to is that time, eight hours overtime up in Tahoe, better spent maybe down in South Central working down there. So that's the balancing that we get into. I'm a complete believer of trying to get cops as mentors into young people's lives, but we also realistically have to find ways to do it that doesn't cost us a prohibitive amount of money under the Federal FSLA laws that we deal with."

Comment: She explained that there's a discussion in the community of Hollenbeck to possibly move the police station, which had been located on the same spot for many years. Understandably, the Boyle Heights residents want it to stay.

"I was wondering if it would be possible to think about putting more police departments throughout the community because everyone wants them in their community. And out of the 41 deaths that have happened throughout the community of Hollenbeck Division, 25 of those were in Boyle Heights."

Chief Bratton: "When Councilman Pacheco and I went on the first tour of Boyle Heights, the issue of the new police facility was uppermost certainly on his mind, and, as you know, we are having a great dilemma in that we've got the funding for it but the site is critical in the sense of the size we will need, and currently the station is functioning in two environments.

I'm not particularly supportive of the idea of more facilities because then it takes more costs to staff them … cops inside, janitors, maintenance. Its one of those situations that I am going to look at very closely. I don't have a resolution or a solution, but we certainly will be working with the Councilmember on it, as he is very very aware of that particular situation."

Mayor Hahn: "I want to thank you all for coming together today. We did need to hear from you about your concerns.

I'm sorry not everybody got a chance to speak today, but we want to continue this dialogue and we need you, and we need to count on each and everyone of you who are here to help us make Los Angeles, my goal, I won't get tired of saying it until it happens, I want to make Los Angeles the safest big city in America.

Thank you."