The High Priority of Public Safety

Re “The Cost of Change at the LAPD,” Commentary, Feb. 14: I don’t know which is worse: the chief of police stating that L.A. residents have to face one of only two choices -- safety or endemic violence -- or the politicians who lack the courage and conviction to make the choices necessary to deal with violence and give us safety. Most reasonable people would agree that a safe city and a well-funded Police Department are basic necessities of our society. If so, then politicians should allocate the money from those funds that already exist; we don’t need more taxes.

Ongoing fraud, waste and abuse have to be eliminated by officials making hard choices so that funds can be allocated to public safety, without raising taxes yet again. The tax-and-spend mentality has to give way to a more intelligent way of conducting the people’s business.

David M. McCarthy

Culver City

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Re “The Irrelevance of Black Leaders” and “The LAPD Is on Trial Once Again,” Commentary, Feb. 13: The culture of victimization and racial divisiveness seems pervasive in our society. In the case of 13-year-old Devin Brown being shot by the LAPD, much remains to be determined. It’s not productive when community leaders make proclamations that racism is at the core of the shooting, thus enflaming an entire community when it’s not at all sure that racism had anything to do with it. How many times do we have to learn the same lesson?

We need to choose: Are we victims, or do we ask the hard questions, such as how did we get into this situation in the first place? It’s easy to place blame and be a victim; it’s harder to accept responsibility.

If we truly want to heal old wounds, we need to come together, not apart. It seems today that many of our community leaders and elected officials much prefer the toxic and nonproductive politics of victimization and racial divisiveness. It’s a cynical easy sell and it gets votes, but don’t buy it.

Morgan McBain

Venice

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Re “A Week of Painful Losses Tests Police Chief’s Mettle,” Feb. 12: You state that there is little public outrage over 1,200 injury shootings in South Los Angeles last year alone. Well, I am outraged. And I would be glad to vote for a city sales tax increase to support more police officers to protect the South Los Angeles community and to build relations between the community and the LAPD. Could it possibly be true that the City Council doesn’t even have the courage to put it on our ballot?

Julie Kern Schwerdtfeger

Pacific Palisades