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Chief Bratton - Out in the Community
Hollenbeck
hears from, and speaks to, the Chief and Commission
by Bobbie Logan
and Bill Murray
Several members of the LA Community Policing forum were in attendance
at a number of recent community meetings including the "Change
of Command" ceremony on Monday, the Police Commission meeting
in Hollenbeck Division held Tuesday night, and the Reseda area
Townhall event sponsored by West Valley Division's C-PAB on
Wednesday.
At each event, Chief William Bratton spoke eloquently about
his growing understanding of the state of the LAPD, and about
how he intends to have his Department "take back the streets"
in every neighborhood.
On the evening of October 29, just one day after the City's
official "Change of Command" ceremony, Chief Bratton
attended his first Police Commission meeting. It was hosted
out in Hollenbeck's Boyle Heights community by Resurrection
Church.
Monsignor
John Moretta welcomed the Commission and Chief Bratton. He talked
about the effects of increased violent crime on the local community.
He noted there are 38 recognized gangs in the area, and many
of the residents simply live in a constant state of fear.
As Father John said, "We want our streets back, we want to feel
safe."
More
than 40 individuals spoke to the Commission regarding their
serious concern over the violent crime in the Hollenbeck area.
Many described their fear in their daily lives ... of going
to the market, going to school, walking down the street, working
in their yard, and even sleeping in their homes.
While a great deal of fear was described, credit was also given
to the Hollenbeck officers and Captain Paul Pesqueira for doing
a great job in the area. |
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Chief
Bratton spoke to the troops
"Change of Command" ceremony
at the Academy, 10/28/02
(excerpts)
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"My commitment to you is to work night and day with the
finest cops in America, to truly make this City, undisputedly,
the safest, and greatest, city in America." |
| "The
citizens of this city need you back in those streets ...
they don't need you smiling and waving ... they need you
out of those cars, on those corners, in those parks, taking
back those streets that unfortunately so many of them
have been lost." |
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"You're going to see a lot of me, nights, days, weekends,
but when you see me, I will not be there checking up on
you. I'll be there, shoulder-to-shoulder with you, learning
from you, as I have a lot to learn." |
| "If
this City goes, we all go, but the direction we want it
to go is toward the goal that the Mayor has clearly established
for all of us, to make it the safest city in America." |
| "I
ask every cop in this Department to work with me, to work
with this community ... together there is nothing we can
not accomplish." |
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It
was obvious the Hollenbeck community is engaged with the officers,
and understands well the concepts of community based policing. The
parking lots were quickly filled, as were all the available spots
on surrounding streets, and some residents turned away.
But well over 500 individuals packed into the hall at Resurrection
Church ... with others standing outside.
The members of the Commission and Chief Bratton vowed to do everything
they could to reduce crime and gang activity in Hollenbeck.
They also vowed to return to meet again with the community.
Commission President Rick Caruso told those assembled, "It's important
for us, as a Commission, the civilian Commission that oversees this
Department, to hear as much as we can from the local community.
It's also important to us to let you know, that we sincerely care
about your community and we understand the problems that you have
had in your community with rising crime, particularly gang related
crime, narcotics, and the terrible loss of life that you've had
in your community since the beginning of the year."
"We made a commitment to Father Moretta, that we're going to
do everything we can to get more and more resources into your area
to attempt to reduce the violent crime."
"From the Chief's perspective and this Commission's perspective,
we will absolutely do everything we can to start taking back these
neighborhoods. There is going to be a new day in LAPD, it started
today with Chief Bratton's first day, and hopefully you will
see a meaningful difference in your neighborhoods really soon."
Here is the entire talk given by Chief Bratton at the Hollenbeck
Police Commission meeting, followed by some of the comments made
by community members.
Chief of Police, William Bratton:
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"It is indeed a pleasure to be here, my first Commission
meeting in this neighborhood. This neighborhood, as you are
well aware, has suffered certainly far more than it's share
of violence and disorder, and I'm here to reaffirm to you in
my new and recent capacity as Police Chief of the Los Angeles
Police Department, that we will do everything is our power,
working with you to fulfill the dream of Boyle Heights, to restore
safety to your neighborhood."
"Yesterday, Chief Pomeroy was at the swearing in ceremony
that I attended left the Los Angeles Police Department. Among
his accomplishments during his too brief time as the acting
Chief of this Department, was to begin to reverse the growth
in crime trend that this city, this Department and this neighborhood
has been experiencing."
"It was a very good first step."
"The rate of increase has begun to decline. Crime report
numbers that I am reporting to the Commission this evening indicate
that year-to-date, 2002 versus the same period of time in 2001,
one-year percentage gain rate, it has been a 2.7% overall increase
in crime. As recently as four or five months ago, that increase
has been almost 7%. So the rate of increase has been declining."
"We are looking forward to a time when the actual rate
of crime, the number of incidents, begins to decline, and I
am optimistic with many of the changes that Mayor Hahn is insisting
that the Department go through, the Police Commission is supporting,
that I embrace, and the partnership that we are seeking with
you, the community, that we in fact can begin to seek meaningful
declines in crime."
"The Police Department … by the way, I apologize, I do
not speak Spanish, I do not speak Italian (audience laughter),
I'm Irish but I don't speak Irish. I do speak a form of Bostonian
... and in that language my commitment, my promise to
you is to work very hard with the best police officers in the
world, in the best City in the world, and certainly one of the
greatest neighborhoods in this City, to make it a much safer
place for you and your children and your families. That is the
new commitment that we have to you."
"I hope, in the months ahead, when I come back to report
crime statistics, that we can reduce, significantly, the number
of crosses on that display (indicating the Alter of the Dead),
so that when we return next year we're here to celebrate, rather
than to mourn. Once again, that is my commitment to you."
(applause)
"I also read, with great interest, the report that was
prepared for the Monsignor by several consultants about proposals
for gang reduction activity.
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(referring
to a letter and a report written by LACP's Dr. Arthur
Jones)
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There are many excellent ideas in that proposal, and as I work
to prioritize the focus of this Department on gang violence,
the Mayor has insisted, and I concur, and the Police Commission,
the supporting prioritization above all other areas is going
after the gangs, going after the violence that they develop,
going after the quality of life deterioration that they bring
to all of your neighborhoods."
"There are some excellent ideas, Monsignor, in that document,
and I look forward to encompassing some of them in the Department
initiatives in the weeks and months ahead."
(Applause) |
Here are
just a few of the comments made by community members who spoke during
the Public Comment period at the Hollenbeck Police Commission meeting:
Dr. Johnson:
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"My plea
to you is, in addition to suppressing crime, I hope you will
deal with the underlying causes. 80% of the kids who wind up
in this situation (gangs) can't read. They are functionally
illiterate and they have very little opportunity to go 'up'
in the world, or make anything of themselves and I think we
can do better than that. I hope that you will see fit to support
programs like CLEAR, like Cease Fire, which offer a stick, but
also a carrot, so that kids can learn to read, get an education,
get some job training, get rid of the tattoos, get some drug
counseling and turn their lives around ... it's possible to
do that. So I would urge you please to consider that
in addition to simply going after crime. I think crime is the
end result of a lot of circumstances. I think we have an opportunity
to do better." |
Monica Harmon:
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"To get
to the bottom line… The community of Maryland was under siege
by a sniper attack for over 20 days. The residents of Boyle
Heights have been under attack by homegrown terrorists, the
gangs. They hear shots daily, at night; they hear helicopters
over their homes at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, sometimes
three times a week. They hear screeching cars driving fast down
their neighborhoods. Our senior citizens can't walk at night
anymore, the way they used to, because they're afraid of being
mugged and robbed by these gangbangers. The children can't play
outside in certain areas because they're afraid of possible
drive-bys."
"Two and a half weeks ago I was leaving one community meeting
at 8:00 at night, going to another, driving down 1st Street,
four blocks away from the police station. I heard shots
being fired, I turned to my left, and two carloads of gangbangers
were shooting at each other going down the street. I ducked,
thanked the Lord I wasn't a casualty and called it in on my
cell. This is what's happening in this community and sadly,
if half of those 41 homicides were children, would it have taken
us this long to be sitting here having this meeting? I'm thankful
that you guys are here. We support the officers because we know
they're backed up. They just don't have the resources. We need
prevention."
"An 11 year-old at our Bravo summit (the Raising
A Community event) said this one thing that put everything
in perspective … He stood up and said, 'We spend so much time,
we spend so much money arresting gangbangers and throwing them
in jail, why don't we spend that money preventing them from
getting there in the first place?' We need to educate the kids.
We need to start at the elementary school level, we need to
give them role models, we need to tell them about what graffiti
is doing."
"There are some great things about Boyle Heights. Most of the
residents, a lot of them here, a lot of them at Resurrection
Neighborhood Watch, have lived in this community fifty years,
in the same house, in the same neighborhood. There is stability
in Boyle Heights, there is business here that has been in the
same location for over forty years. The people here are supportive
of each other. We go to the same events and to the same meetings
day in and day out to try and do something about it. We need
your help. Thank you so much for coming." |
Dr. Arthur Jones:
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"It is
indeed a time of hope for this community, particularly for Boyle
Heights."
"No one can do it alone, no police force is an island just because
society is, and they need your help. And I know you are willing
to give that now." |
A "gray panther":
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"I just
want to say, in reference to Captain Pesqueira of the Hollenbeck
Division, with the minimal manpower they have had, through this
recession and shortage of policeman, they have done a hell of
a good job in trying to protect our community." |
Female community member:
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"Chief
Bratton, we also share your vision." |
LA Bridges Rep:
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(about
educating youth) "We hope to work together, we hope to balance
it out to where it works with all communities." |
Female community member:
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"I will
tell my representatives that it's their responsibility to make
their communities a better community. You better get off the
burrito, you better learn to get to Margaritaville and be in
cheeseburger paradise because there's no better country than
this." |
Mary Lou Trevas:
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"I have
the courage here to stand up and tell you that we must continue
to work together to stop the violence in this community." |
Dispatcher, LA City Park Rangers:
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"Chief
Bratton, I would like to see more police and park rangers in
our city parks and this can only be done by hiring not only
more police officers, but peace officer park rangers to alleviate
some of the problems in our parks. We need to keep our parks
safe for our children who go to these parks for after school
activities." |
The meeting concluded with remarks from Commission President Rick
Caruso, who noted that he was impressed with how gracious the community
had been during the Public Comment period, despite having experienced
such a high homicide rate and a horrible and ongoing local gang
problem. He said if this had happened in his community he'd have
spoken with far more anger.
President Caruso stated that he felt the Commission and Department
leaders had let Hollenbeck down. But it was obvious the community
had a strong relationship with LAPD, and respect of and for both
Hollenbeck's commanding officer, Captain Pesqueira,
and the other far-too-few officers that had been assigned to the
Division.
His promise, on behalf of the Commission and the Chief, was to find
the resources Hollenbeck needed to combat its high incidence of
violent crime, especially gang related crime, and to return frequently
to the community.
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