Los Angeles Community Policing ... getting into action !!!

( Editor's Note: This successful event was held on June 1st - Read the REPORT )

We at Los Angeles Community Policing are dedicated to encouraging the creation of cooperative partnerships between the residents that live in our communities and the police who serve them, acknowledging the principal that neither of these groups sees the entire picture, and that each has an important role to play in keeping our City safe.

Creating ongoing and open dialogues, brainstorming sessions where the object is the common search for solutions, brings forth ideas that will educate and empower everyone who's involved, Los Angeles community members and LAPD officers alike.

All over the City, neighborhoods struggle to address serious local gang violence and narcotic trafficking problems. People are dying, lives being shattered. C-PABs and LAPD should waste no time engaging in fact finding, solution seeking dialogues with local residents.

You're invited to participate with us ... Saturday, June 1st - from 9am to 1pm
(registration starts at 8am - morning refreshments and lunch will be served)

To this end Los Angeles Community Policing is a part a new coalition of groups, called United Communities to Stop Violence, which is sponsoring a unique community event we all hope will be just the first in a series.

"Gangs and Drugs; understanding the issues" will be held on Saturday, June 1st, on the campus of Bravo High School, located in the shadow of County/USC Medical Center just off the 10 freeway. The event will run from 9am to 1pm (registration starts at 8am - both morning refreshments and lunch will be served).

Many in the local area see themselves as dealing with "local terrorism" every day ...

An exciting program has been devised for this community conference, which will appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds ... and YOU are cordially invited ...

We hope to attract at least 500 people ... we can accommodate even more ...

The event will begin with an assembly featuring a keynote speaker followed by an expert panel which will discuss:

Gangs and Drugs; . understanding the issues

The panel will include "recovered" gang members, gang aversion councilors, school officials that deal with at risk students, and LAPD members who work in gang and narcotics units.

They will each make short presentations, and engage the community members in a question and answer period.

The assembly will be followed by small multiple workshops, breakout groups with no more than 25 people each, that will be simultaneously facilitated by professional personnel.

This portion of the event will be devoted to engaging the participants in a dialogue about gangs and drugs where not only will existing programs be discussed, but fresh community concerns can be heard and new ideas shared.

The issues and proposed solutions arising out of conversations in these workshops will be recorded, and they will be combined into a set of "action items" as soon as the breakout groups adjourn.

We think capturing the results from these breakout sessions may well be the highlight of the event, since it's a record of what the community thinks, feels, and wants ... and that's most important here.

Finally, the attendees will reconvene to have lunch, and while they eat they'll learn what was discussed in the other workshops, because the combined list of "action items" will be shared with them.

Bus service will be provided to and from the event from several local neighborhoods, and since we have a considerable number of Spanish speaking residents in Los Angeles, we've made special provisions to ensure their inclusion and participation.

A variety of service groups have asked to sponsor information tables at the event, and these will be available all day. Attendees may visit them whenever they wish.

Will this mean an end to crime in the area? Of course not. But we have to start somewhere.

This will not be a passive event. At every step we are designing elements that will immediately engage the participants in the solution. We're going to be signing them up ...

Perhaps we can create a spirit of partnership which can begin to encourage and facilitate finding solutions to reduce crime and improve the quality of life. It's just a start, and combating gang violence and narcotics activity will be an ongoing and long term effort ... but it's a good beginning.

See, and that's the point. Because successful Community Policing partnerships depend on developing the active ongoing participation of all those who live in the area.

United Communities to Stop Violence

United Communities to Stop Violence is a coalition of church groups, youth groups, schools, government agencies, members of the Chambers of Commerce, the Councilmen who represent our area, and community people, including Los Angeles Community Policing.

To this end we have rallied participation from a variety of places including:

We at Los Angeles Community Policing hope you'll join us, and lend your concerns and ideas to the mix. We're all looking for the same thing ... to understand the issues around gangs and drugs, to stop the violence, and to improve the quality of life.

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Note: This list will not be shared with any other group, nor will it be used for purposes other than promoting Los Angeles Community Policing.

Yours in service,

Bill Murray
Bobbie Logan

Thank you for supporting your LAPD Officers.