Bratton: L.A. Is as Safe as 1956

Except the chief is manipulating numbers and acting like a politician

Comments (0) By Patrick Range McDonald Wednesday, Apr 29 2009

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There’s little doubt that these two powerful co-admirers believe the media need to be handled in order to get out the right story. This is especially true now that they are openly acting as a political unit, and touting the idea that with all city departments facing cuts or layoffs, the LAPD alone must grow.

Two days after Election Day, at the 32nd Annual California Police Chiefs Training Symposium in Pasadena on March 5, Bratton revealed that one of the main uses of the LAPD Web site is to “counter the media.” “If we disagree with a story,” Bratton told his fellow chiefs, “we can pump it out very quickly to our bloggers.” Bratton said the LAPD may even venture into the world of Twitter.

Star Foreman

Trust us, it’s 1956

Courtesy of The USC Digital Archives

Poker Hall of Shame: A 1954 Laurel Canyon “vice raid” netted three young hipsters who, scandalously, were playing poker for cash.

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Union leader Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, has seen chiefs from Daryl Gates to Bernard Parks come and go but describes Bratton as pushing the politics of his office “to a whole new level.” When controversies erupt, the labor leader says, “[Bratton] seems to get a pass. He has a lot of collateral with the public.”

During the Weekly interview several weeks ago at his Parker Center office, Bratton announced that he was personally ushering in a “new era” of policing called “predictive policing.”

“We’re fast developing it in Los Angeles,” Bratton said. He then made the claim that he, the same chief who left 4,423 rape-evidence kits untested in freezers for years, and who lags far behind law enforcement in New York City and Orange County in using modern science to solve crimes, will soon begin using crime statistics and “a lot of other factors” in order to “be almost able to predict where a crime will occur — absent our intervening.”

When Karmen was told of Bratton’s new claims, he sighed and said it would probably be used as another way to “lobby for more resources and for more personnel.” Asked why he was a critic of Bratton’s, Karmen said, “I’m not convinced police are the main reason for drops in crime. ... And if you spend more money on criminal justice, you won’t have the money for the root causes of street crime, like bad schools and poverty.”

William J. Bratton — along with a lackluster mayor who dreams of becoming governor, has failed to deliver on a range of promises, and seems singularly intent on fulfilling his old vow to hire 10,000 cops — will no doubt keep the public apprised of the year in which they are living.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.