A Plan to Make Los Angeles Work for our FamiliesBy Wendy Greuel
Keeping Neighborhoods Safe
President, United Firefighters of Los Angeles City
The Mayor's first and most important duty is to keep our streets, neighborhoods and schools safe. That means prioritizing public safety and making sure our first responders have the personnel and resources they need to do their jobs effectively.
My opponent seems to view the job differently. As President of the City Council, Eric Garcetti oversaw massive budget cuts to our city workforce, forcing homicide detectives, SWAT team members and other special units to reduce their hours, and LAPD to move sworn officers off the streets and into desk jobs.1
Police Chief Beck recently said that these cuts are hurting morale. They're preventing the LAPD from investing in new equipment and technology, and from paying for community outreach, youth programs and specialized training. 2 Los Angeles is now the most underpoliced city in America.
| City | Population | Total Officers | Officers/10K Pop.3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 3,893,010 | 9,963 | 25.7 |
| Chicago | 2,833,649 | 12,515 | 44.2 |
| New York | 8,336,002 | 34,817 | 41.8 |
Our Fire Department did not fare much better under Garcetti's stewardship. Over the last 3 fiscal years, more than $89 million has been slashed from LAFD's budget. 4 These cuts have forced LAFD to close fire companies, implement rolling "brownouts" and reduce personnel by 400 firefighters. 5 The result has been an alarming increase in response times. In fact, LAFD's average response time is now more than a minute over the national standard.6 These seconds and minutes are not just numbers in a report – in many cases they mean the difference between life and death.
DID YOU KNOW?
As President of the City Council, Eric Garcetti voted to implement rolling ‘brownouts' to fill a $54 million shortfall in the Fire Department. This increased response times to 911 emergency calls.
Wendy Greuel: Keeping Gangs & Guns Out of Our Schools and Neighborhoods
I understand we face tough economic times. But things will turn around and when we close the budget deficit, I will prioritize new revenues towards first responders and public safety. Specifically, I plan to:
- Work with LAPD leadership to immediately get more cops out from behind their desks and back on the streets, where they can better protect and serve Los Angeles, and submit a budget that restores fire services to our community.7
- Set aside 20% of ongoing future net revenue growth to expand crime prevention programs as well as hire new police officers and firefighters with a goal of expanding LAPD to 12,000 officers and LAFD to 4,000 firefighters by 2020.8
- Set aside an additional 5% of new growth to create a Public Safety Trust Fund to be tapped only for public safety emergencies and police and fire funding during economic downturns.
- Implement a community-based policing and prosecuting model - working with the City Attorney and Neighborhood Councils - that will give each community a voice in how to reduce crime and expand prevention programs in their neighborhood.
Prioritizing public safety is the right choice for our communities. It is also the right choice for our economy. A recent RAND study demonstrated that when LAPD hired 725 new police officers following the Christopher Commission, the $110 million in added costs generated $415 million in annual savings, a 280% return on investment.9 These savings don't just benefit city government; they benefit the individuals and businesses that would otherwise bear the costs of crime. Put simply, taxpayers get their money's worth when investing in our first responders, and based on past experience, an additional 2,000 cops could mean $723 million in net savings to our community – a $361,501 return for every new officer on the streets.9, 10
As Mayor, I will also take additional steps to make sure Los Angeles is ready during a time of crisis, including:
- Working with private sector businesses such as grocery stores to develop emergency plans to distribute food and water.
- Developing programs to provide auxiliary power to neighborhood schools and facilitate expeditious delivery of basic necessities and shelter during large-scale emergencies.
- Coordinating efforts with schools, hospitals, and senior homes to ensure safe evacuation routes to ‘Emergency Shelters' and to help the City to identify our most at-risk populations during times of emergency.
- Civilian hiring freeze leaves scores of LAPD officers doing desk work. Los Angeles Times. April 1, 2009.
- Charlie Beck, LA Police Chief, Required to Cut $40 Million to Balance Budget, But Given No Guidance." Los Angeles Weekly. May 25th, 2011.
- http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/law-en- forcement-police-department-employee-totals-for-cities.html
- http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_22284619/editorial-los-angeles-fire-department-needs-act-improve
- Playing With Fire. March 1st, 2011. Los Angeles Times.
- http://graphics.latimes.com/how-fast-is-lafd/#10/34.0504/-118.6002
- Housed within existing GRYD office
- http://www.wendygreuel.org/issues/public-safety/; This public safety allocation would only take effect in years when the City's budget is balanced and only applies to ongoing new revenue growth.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police." RAND Center on Quality Policing.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police." RAND Center on Quality Policing.
