A Down Payment on Public Safety

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky has successfully persuaded the council to pay for 250 new police officers. Mayor Bradley has also agreed. The additional officers will make the city feel a little safer.

The mayor, proposed no additional officers and no new squad cars in the city budget. He cited the loss of federal revenues and a sluggish economy to explain the belt-tightening at City Hall.

Yaroslavsky, the man who wants to be mayor, was convinced that additional police deserved a higher priority. He put together a plan to pay for more cops, more tree-trimming, more street-resurfacing and more recreation--more of the services that can make life safer and cleaner in Los Angeles. The council put public safety first, as it should, by addressing separately the proposal for new officers.

The 250 cops, to be added to the force of 7,100, will cost $7.4 million for the first six months.

The decision effectively removes any motive to support Councilman Robert Farrell’s understandable but divisive proposition, on the June 2 ballot, that would add 300 police to the South-Central part of the city by taxing the residents of that area alone to pay for them.

The additional officers, expected to be in uniform sometime next year, should allow for the deployment of more police where the streets are the meanest. More cops will also mean more arrests. The additional arrests will provide more work for prosecutors, a need that the mayor and council should keep in mind when working out next year’s budget. County officials should consider the additional pressures on judges and jails when that budget is under study.

An additional 250 police officers won’t provide a cop on every corner, but the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Bradley have at least made a down payment on public safety. They must continue that commitment to make people feel safer no matter where they live in Los Angeles.