Lack of Funds Threatens Police Foot Patrols

Despite its apparent success in dramatically reducing violent crime and calming residents’ fears in Venice, Hollywood and other Westside high-crime areas, the city’s police foot patrol program is in jeopardy because of lack of funds.

The program of dispatching police to walk through 13 of the most high-crime areas of the city is supported by law officials, City Council members and residents.

Police and council members say the foot patrols have dramatically reduced the level of violent crime in target areas on the Westside including Hollywood Boulevard, Koreatown and the Wilshire areas along 7th Street and Normandie Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, and the gang-ridden Oakwood Gardens area of Venice.

“The presence of the officers in the areas has had a direct impact in reducing murders and other crimes,” Deputy Police Chief Robert Vernon said late last week. “Frankly, we were kind of shocked” at how successful the program has been since it was started with emergency funds last September.

LAPD statistics show the number of slayings in target areas has dropped from 27 to three during comparable three-month periods.

Recently, city administrators followed in the footsteps of the foot-patrol officers in Oakwood Gardens and other target areas in preparation of a report on the program. The report drew no conclusions on the effectiveness of the foot patrols because of varying reporting methods between LAPD and the city.

“But the vast majority of residents there said they felt safer and thought crime went down,” said Stephen Wong, assistant city administrative officer.

Both Vernon and Westside Cmdr. James Jones said, however, that authorities often have to decide between using their overtime budget for foot patrols or homicide investigations, emergency calls and other pressing matters.

“They really do have an impact on crime, and the public loves them,” Jones, who runs LAPD’s four Westside divisions in West Los Angeles, Pacific, Wilshire and Hollywood, said of the foot patrols. “But if it has to come out of our own overtime money, we’ll have to reassess everything and put it in perspective.”

As a result, the LAPD is not taking a position on whether the City Council should earmark additional funds for the foot patrol program, Vernon said.

“If they think it is important enough to continue, we will definitely continue,” Vernon said. “We think the beats are good, and they appear to us to be effective. But we think responding to emergency calls and investigating homicides are more important.”

“It’s kind of a sensitive issue,” Vernon said. “I think all of the council members speak highly in favor of it, and the people want them. On the other hand, (the council has) a funding problem, and I am not one to say what the funding should be. So whether they want to continue them is up to them.”

Council members appear to support the program, voting 10 to 0 on March 28 to grant an emergency infusion of $250,000 to keep the foot patrols going until April 25. On that day, a vote on future aid is expected to come up, and the vote will not be as easy, council members said last week.

The problem is the city is running out of money fast, and LAPD says it does not have the $500,000 needed to keep the program running through the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

Already, the city’s reserve fund stands at the “unusually low” level of $5 million. “It’s going to be tight getting through the end of the year,” Wong said.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter said: “We’re not at the bottom of the heap yet, but we’re getting there fast.”

In the meantime, the council has asked its finance and public safety committees to look into sources of funding for the program. At least two Westside council members, Galanter and Michael Woo, consider funding a top priority.

“The council debate on this was very clear--everybody wants them. They do seem to make a difference,” Galanter said. “The chances are the Police Department and the council will find a way to move money around.”

Galanter said she expects a debate over who should pay for the patrols--the council or LAPD. But, she predicted, “they will survive.”

Calling the patrols “a very high priority,” Woo said he, too, will support efforts to extend funding, as did Councilman Nate Holden, who said money is available in other sources, such as the city’s unappropriated balance fund.

“I think that the foot patrols along Hollywood Boulevard serve two purposes,” said Woo. “They prevent crime and enable police to arrest lawbreakers, and they give neighbors and merchants the feeling of safety. In terms of both perception and reality, they do make a real difference.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, although supportive of the foot patrols, said he will not decide whether to support continued funding for the patrols until he knows more about the city’s reserves.

“I am concerned that the city is in a financial bind,” Yaroslavsky said, “and I’m not sure we will find the remaining half a million to keep them going.”

Mayor Tom Bradley’s budget for next year is not yet available, although he has supported the program in the past.