In 2005, when Mayor Villaraigosa took office, Los Angeles was the most under policed big city in the nation: with a police force of approximately 9,100 officers patrolling a city with approximately 4 million residents.
Since unveiling the City’s police build up, Los Angeles has seen the citywide crime rate decreased to historical levels not seen in over half a decade.
With the City’s historic effort to add 1,000 police officers, Los Angeles has seen the citywide per capita crime rate decrease to its lowest level since 1954, and the total number of homicides fall to a 40-year low.
Targeting the most dangerous street gangs and gang members, gang related murders dropped more than 24 percent in 2008.
Under Chief William Bratton and now Chief Charlie Beck's leadership, the LAPD boasts an expanded force that is committed to smart policing and community engagement. The department has changed its approach to law enforcement by partnering with the communities it serves, as well as targeting resources and officers where they are needed most—areas with the highest levels of crime.
Partnering with local, state and federal law enforcement officials, the City has increased the number of Community Law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) sites, to include Ramona Gardens, Baldwin Village, 77th Division in South LA, Rampart and Jordan Downs. This community approached to law enforcement has proved to be an effective program in suppressing gang violence, by centralizing resources in communities with high levels of crime.
Since taking office, the Mayor has also expanded the Safer City initiative to Skid Row and North Hills. The initiative has partnered the LAPD with local business and community leaders to address crime in their neighborhoods.
A decade ago, the LAPD faced some its darkest days in its history—following the discovery and disclosure of the Rampart Area Corruption Incident—the department was charged by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) of engaging in a pattern or practice of excessive force, false arrests and unreasonable searches and seizures. As a result the city’s police department entered into a Federal Consent Decree with specific guidelines designed to institute new policies and procedures aimed at reforming the conduct of the department.
Since going into federal oversight, the LAPD has set in motion ambitious reforms to transform the department’s governance, community relations and the use of force. Ten years later, the department has made sweeping reforms—adopting new protocols for investigating allegations of biased policing, and implementing a financial disclosure policy.