“Today, we are taking a big step forward … to ensure fairness, justice, and equity for all Angelenos by creating the Community Safety Association office at the Los Angeles Police Department,” said the mayor. Los Angeles Eric Garcetti in an update on the metropolis battle with The Coronavirus, Public Safety, and Police Reform.
“This new office makes CSP both a program and a philosophy,” Garcetti added in the evolving “co-ownership” plan to locate police officers for up to five years in neighborhoods to “develop relationships with people whom they serve … to move from a warrior mentality to a guardian mentality. “
“This comprehensive embrace of relationship-based surveillance and the search for long-term solutions rather than ongoing implementation plans will serve as the foundation for the reimagined Los Angeles Police Department,” stated the Los Angeles Police Department in a press release that came out when Garcetti was speaking. Live on television tonight about the mainly public housing program that went from being a “central pillar of this department to part of the foundation.”
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Often called a tougher militia than local police, the department led by Chief Michel Moore also noted that Captain Emada Tingirides would become Deputy Chief to oversee the expanded CSP Office.
“As an organization, we are committed to continuing to engage in meaningful reflection on our past missteps, but we are also eager to embrace the changes that move us in a new direction, one that is defined as a true reflection of the communities we serve. we serve and their dynamic needs, “the police store added in what Garcetti himself said Monday was an effort to establish trust with African-American and Latino communities in Los Angeles so that they” feel and are safer. “
Seeking to mitigate alleged criticism that today’s announcement does not go far enough, the ambitious Garcetti said, “This is part of a broader strategy of reducing strength through training, tactics and recruitment, changing cultures. where we have to go and looking beyond vigilance “to the question of inequity that affects communities of color.
With a collapsing poll, Donald Trump throws all his reelection tokens into a law and order strategy of racial harassment and stokes the fire of discontent by sending federal troops to cities like Portland, crime and police are back in the center of attention this summer after Memorial Day murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police.
Monday’s announcement also comes as tensions between law enforcement and local politicians also erupted on the county front. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva recently turned to social media to criticize supervisor Hilda Solís in what she later called “unprofessional, inappropriate, racist, and sexist” language. Strained largely because the sheriff was removed from his role as chief of county emergency operations by the Board in March, the already strained relationship has opened up a new line of failure after Villanueva attacked Solís with a Latino cultural insult for criticize actions. Police Against People of Color.
In that context, as protests against police brutality and systemic racism occurred across the country following Floyd’s filmed murder, Garcetti declared in early June that there would be a $ 100 to $ 150 million cut in the budget for LAPD. After a 7% increase in the LAPD budget in April and now leading to a further $ 250 million cut from existing municipal agencies, the reallocated money would go to communities of color, “so we can invest in jobs, education and healing. ” said the mayor.
It goes without saying that, despite well-documented criticism of their response generally and specifically to the protests and curfews in early June, the nearly 10,000 sworn LAPD officers were unhappy with their portion of their annual budget. $ 1.8 billion. While trying to keep quiet about the politics of the situation, on June 4, a Los Angeles police chief, sometimes prone to pranks, Moore (no, not that Michael Moore) said, “I stand firm in my belief that continued funding of the essential functions of our Department equals public safety. “
Just days earlier, Chief Moore had faced a chorus of remote citizen calls over his resignation in a live online comment session conducted by the police commission. In words quickly retrieved at a June 1 press conference with Garcetti, Moore lashed out at the looters who launched the protests and proclaimed that Floyd’s death is in his hands, as well as those officers. “
At the time, Garcetti moved to calm things down by emphasizing that a freestyle that Moore had done wrong. To add some seriousness to the difficult civic situation, the mayor added on June 2 that if he believed Moore had meant what he said, then Moore “would no longer be the chief of police.”
In late June, as it seemed optimistic that the city might have flattened the coronavirus curve, the Los Angeles Budget and Finance Committee overwhelmingly voted to cut the LAPD’s budget by $ 133 million. That is well below what the Popular Budget backed by Black Lives Matter was looking for and below the $ 150 million that had seemed possible weeks before. On July 1, as Defund the Police efforts gained ground in various ways across the country, the Los Angeles City Council went beyond the Budget and Finance Committee and approved a $ 150 million cut after all. in a 12-2 vote. Councilmen Joe Buscaino and John Lee were the only ones to vote against the cut.
Earlier this month, the City Council stated that approximately $ 40 million of the $ 150 million cut from police would go to push the pause button on more city worker permits due to the economic ravages of COVID-19 .
Overall, with a sharp decline in revenue this year due to the health crisis that has hit Americans and the City of Angels hard, LA City’s 2020-2021 budget is around $ 10.5 billion.
Of course, when he was joined by members such as members of the Buscaino Council (a former police officer), Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Curren Price and Mónica Rodríguez, civil rights lawyer Connie Rice, Los Angeles Police Chief Moore and the future Deputy Chief Tingirides. Police reform was not the only issue that the mayor had on hand today.
“The fact is, COVID-19 is still in control,” Garcetti said at the start of today’s more than one-hour televised briefing. “This is a watershed week for COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, our public health conditions remain fragile, but the COVID threat level remains in Orange,” he added of city metrics where Red would see another stay – House closing. “We are not closing any additional businesses or activities,” said the mayor, a media expert in a city and county who has seen cases of coronavirus and deaths that apparently tragically exceed every day.