PLATFORM : L.A. Is More Than Its City Limits

I was born and raised in the Los Angeles area and live less than 15 miles from the Civic Center. My family, including in-laws, have faithfully served as city employees continuously since 1911, when my grandfather joined the LAPD. To be labeled a “carpetbagger” and member of an “army of occupation” is highly offensive to me and the other members of the LAPD whose only crime is living outside the city limits.

Police officers, like all employees, should be measured by the quality of service they provide. Los Angeles has about 7,800 officers who are overworked, understaffed and poorly equipped. They have worked without a contract for way too long and justifiably feel underappreciated. Some of these officers live in the city, others do not. But they are all working under the same conditions, and no one has been able to show a correlation between an officer’s residence and commitment to serve the community.

There is a memorial in front of Parker Center dedicated to LAPD officers who have died in the line of duty. In the past 10 years, 21 officers have died while serving this community. Of that group, 13, or 62%, lived outside the city limits at the time of their death. Does anyone besides the ACLU question the devotion of these officers? They should not be remembered as members of an “occupying force,” but simply as police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice.

The LAPD has more than 900 reserve officers. Most live outside the city, yet they choose to volunteer to help protect Los Angeles. By the ACLU’s standards, these loyal people also are carpetbaggers who come into Los Angeles and donate thousands of hours of service, only to return to their enclaves.

I believe that the ACLU has forgotten its basic principles. They spend a great deal of effort protecting the rights and liberties of individuals. Like anyone else, I have the right to live wherever I wish. In fact, California outlawed residency requirements for employees in 1974. Ironically, the ACLU supported the ballot proposition that created this protection. I would expect the ACLU to defend my right to choose where to live instead of defaming me for not living in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is much more than an area defined by lines drawn on a map. The entire region is Los Angeles. We are all residents of this great metropolis, regardless of what a ZIP code or map indicates.