Gang Capital’s Police Need Reinforcements

Last year there were more than 1,000 homicides in Los Angeles County. In addition, there were 2,500 forcible rapes, 52,000 aggravated assaults, 60,000 burglaries and 75,000 motor vehicle thefts.

That’s too much crime. But perhaps it’s not so surprising in a city that has only one police officer or sheriff’s deputy for every 435 residents. Other major cities, such as New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, have nearly twice as many officers per resident.

Simply put: We need more cops. Measure A -- the Public Safety and Homeland Security Initiative, which appears on Tuesday’s ballot -- would make that happen, putting 5,000 more officers and deputies on the streets throughout Los Angeles County. That includes 1,260 new cops in L.A. alone, and an additional 1,800 deputies for the sheriff’s office.

The increases would reduce crime, improve public safety, open closed jails and fund the most necessary crime-prevention programs now going underfunded.

This is not something we can afford to put off. Los Angeles is now the gang capital of the world. With 80,000 gang members in Los Angeles County, gang members outnumber police officers by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

Our jails are facing a crisis. Because of draconian budget cuts, L.A. County has been forced to release more than 63,000 inmates early over the last two years, many of whom have served less than 10% of their sentences. Measure A fixes this; if it passes, the early release program for inmates will stop at once.

Those of us who have worked in law enforcement for years understand that we cannot arrest our way out of the serious crime problems L.A. faces. There is money in this measure for crime prevention as well, although we believe it must be left to the discretion of neighborhoods and communities to decide how it should be spent in their areas.

Not to put too fine a point on it: Crime in Los Angeles County must be brought down. Law enforcement can no longer accept stagnant or, worse still, declining budgets. Measure A is the solution we need today and for the long term to reduce crime and make all of Los Angeles County safer.