Robberies are significantly down for this time compared to last year, while aggravated assaults, which include domestic violence, are up, said Richard Lee, the new senior lead officer for Central San Pedro for the Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Division. He said this during the July 10 meeting of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council. The unsaid part is that the aggravated assaults are led by domestic violence.
While homicides are still at historic lows, Lee said police are still investigating a shooting and a July 3 hit-and-run in Wilmington. Lee didn’t indicate the date of the shooting. Both cases are still under investigation.
Grand theft autos are up in the area as they are throughout the city. Silverados and Hondas continue to be the most popular targets. Make sure to lock your cars so as not to become an easy target. Lee urged listeners to file police reports, noting that creating such a paper trail makes policing in San Pedro that much more effective.
He also reminded listeners that the city has gone back to zero bail.
Then Lee said, “So don’t be surprised to see suspects we’ve arrested back on the streets after only a couple of hours. When they are repeat offenders, we can try to do something … you know, do things to try to keep them in a little longer. But right now it’s back to zero bail.”
To be clear, what has ended was a preliminary injunction barring the city and county from enforcing cash bail requirements for some people who have been arrested but not arraigned as of July 18.
By Oct. 1, nearly all defendants charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies in LA County will either be cited and released or freed on certain terms and conditions after judicial review within 24 hours of arrest.
Lee later clarified the difference between no bail and zero bail, explaining that with zero bail, a defendant doesn’t have to pay a fine to get released until they get a court date. If the defendant fails to go to court on a misdemeanor charge, a bench warrant will be issued by the judge. No bail means a defendant is not getting out of jail.
Sgt. Juan Terrazas is filling in for Sgt. William Manlove will be on indefinite leave until the end of the year. Terrazas offered insight that spoke to the challenges of retaining and increasing the number of police officers in the LAPD.
Promotions go from P-3 (police officer III) to senior lead officer before getting promotions to sergeant or elsewhere. He noted that while promotions are dangled like carrots in front of officers, LAPD’s personnel office doesn’t readily release the upgrades in position, causing officers to look elsewhere for the promotions.
As I listened to the YouTube neighborhood council recordings, I was reminded of the gulf between perception and reality — security versus insecurity.
No matter how close to historic lows violent crime statistics are, it’s meaningless if community members don’t feel safe. Facts be damned. The politics surrounding crime frequently get reduced to circling the wagons as we make snap decisions on who’s one of us and who are the trouble-makers.
“Throw-money-at-it!” “Get somebody else to do it” is about as forward-looking as the solutions get.
Mayor Karen Bass’ promise to get LAPD staffing levels back to at least pre-pandemic numbers feels like it’s stalling, while the vice president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, Jeanette Sandoz, told police officers considering leaving the LAPD to, “Go somewhere that respects the work you do and you don’t have to beg for a great contract,” in a since-deleted social media post.
I doubt the bombing-throwing antics of the Police Protective League would be enough to reverse the trend of attrition from the LAPD’s ranks. But I know for damn sure no one is going to feel any safer once we have them.
Police departments are important, but they aren’t the solution to every problem. Senior Lead Officer Lee encouraged residents to make use of the MyLA311 app, keep doors and windows closed and locked when not at home, and ditto for our vehicles. And this comes as the city is experiencing record heat levels.
That’s a start. The question after that is what steps do we take as neighbors and community members to feel the safety that statistics are saying we should be experiencing. Clearly, the current model of community based policing isn’t working but it’s better than what was happening before.