Police, Leaders Discuss Increase in Violence

A spike this year in the number of murders in Los Angeles prompted an emergency summit Monday of police and politicians to discuss ways to stem violent crime.

Their goal was to head off a long summer of violence, said Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, one of dozens of community and law enforcement leaders from throughout the county who attended the two-hour, closed-door meeting.

“We certainly are experiencing an increase in violent crime in the city,” Parks said. “We need to do something more long term.”

There were 15,936 violent crimes between February and June of this year, up 9% from the same period last year, according to LAPD statistics. In the Newton Division, for example, the number of murders climbed from eight to 20 during that period; in the 77th Division, murders went from 16 to 22, and in the Southwest Division, they are up from 13 to 16.

On the other hand, the number of murders in the Hollenbeck Division plunged from 15 last year to five this year.

Hate- and gang-related incidents added to the count but no single factor explains the increase, officials said.

Until last year, homicides in Los Angeles County were down--from 1,790 in 1995 to 956 in 1999, according to the coroner’s office.

Monday’s conference, called by Assemblyman Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who is running for mayor, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, did not result in any quick fixes.

But participants emerged in agreement that solutions must stretch beyond good police work. They said parents, schools, mental health services and businesses must work together to cast a safety net for youths who otherwise gravitate toward crime and gang activity.

“We need to do a lot more prevention as well as intervention,” Villaraigosa said.

He and Burke said the meeting, which was organized in about a week, was not politically motivated. Invitations were extended to Republicans as well as Democrats, Burke said.

Only one prominent Republican, Sheriff Lee Baca, was in attendance. Others, including Mayor Richard Riordan, did not go because of prior commitments, aides said.

“If they really wanted elected officials to be there, they would give them more than a day or two notice,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Rudy Svorinich.

But Assistant Dist. Atty. William Hodgman, who attended in lieu of his boss, Gil Garcetti, who was out of town, said, “The summit was very useful because of all the various parties brought together. . . . And the themes that were expressed were themes that I endorse.”

Riordan spokesman Manuel Valencia said the increase in violent crimes reported by the LAPD, while troubling, has to be seen in context of a plummeting crime rate over the past several years.

“At this point, it’s not a matter of anything being out of control,” he said. “Things certainly are well in hand. The idea is to make sure things stay well in hand.”

It’ll take far more than a single meeting to stop the bloodshed, say some survivors and community activists. Monica Lopez of East Los Angeles, whose boyfriend was slain May 24 in Boyle Heights during a particularly violent week, said she found it hard to be hopeful. Police haven’t established the motive for the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Roman Carlos Gonzalez, she said, let alone who did it.

“There are other things they should look at,” she said of conference participants. For example, “for someone to get something done, you have to be related” to a person in authority she said, citing the quick arrest in the killing of Lori Gonzalez, Parks’ granddaughter.

There’s no doubt that the death of Gonzalez focused attention on violent crime, said Najee Ali, executive director of Project Islamic Hope, who for months has been interested in seeing such a summit. But the dialogue must be extended to affected community members, he said, including those in gangs.

Other issues discussed included:

* Why there are more murders during the summer months.

* The size of the population most likely to commit violent crimes, young adult males, will increase dramatically over the next few years.

* Areas reporting more incidents of gang violence have few if any programs for young people.