Dispatch, Feb. 9, 2007: South L.A. Detectives

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The new push against gangs touted by Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this week also means changes for homicide investigations in LAPD’s South Bureau, which encompasses Watts, South-Central, Crenshaw and other areas south of the Santa Monica Freeway.

High caseloads and competition for resources have long fettered homicide investigations in this key bureau, where 197 homicides were committed last year, compared to about 87 in the much bigger San Fernando Valley. Commanders say the new structure will address some of these concerns.

The new homicide structure is part of what the LAPD is calling ‘Operation South Bureau Criminal Gang Homicide Group,’ to be overseen by Patrick Gannon, the captain of 77th Street Division. Gannon has been promoted to commander as part of the change. His new command harkens back to the old South Bureau homicide unit, which was disbanded in the late 1990s under Bratton’s predecessor, Chief Bernard Parks. Followers of the LAPD will remember South Bureau Homicide from its portrayal in Miles Corwin’s nonfiction crime classic, ‘The Killing Season.’

The group will consist less of a separate unit than of three units united under new management. Detectives will remain in the desks they now occupy, spread out across three police stations, and still overseen by their current supervisors--Sal LaBarbera in Southeast, Matt Mahoney in 77th and David Garrido in Southwest. These three will report to a yet-to-be named homicide lieutenant. Another detective supervisor, John Radtke, gang-homicide specialist and longtime 77th investigator, will help ‘coordinate’ efforts, in Gannon’s words.

Part of the goal is to get everyone working together--gang units, detective units, higher-ups. Close working relationships between various functions within the LAPD are key to solving homicides. This is especially true in South Los Angeles, where -- because witnesses are so reluctant to testify -- a gang officer’s tip from the street or a random gun seizure is as likely to solve a homicide as a day’s worth of canvassing by detectives. But turf wars, competition for time and resources, conflicting missions and temperament differences sometimes make the LAPD a divided house. In the 77th Street station, for example, gang detectives and homicide detectives have long sat in different rooms, and the station’s modern design ensures that if they wish, they can avoid each other entirely.

Gannon promises his new enterprise will produce smooth working relationships and more effective investigations. It remains to be seen whether everything has to change to remain the same--an old story in LAPD. But the good news for South Bureau homicide detectives may be quicker lab tests on firearms and other physical evidence, since a dedicated lab squad will be part of the group, as well as relief from some administrative burdens, more responsiveness from assistant district attorneys and a louder voice for homicide investigations in the LAPD rank structure.