Find A Service
Other Highlights
Our fourth goal for the next four years is to keep LA on track as one of the safest big cities in America.
As I’ve said many times before, public safety is the first obligation of government. It’s the foundation for everything we are trying to build. The context for economic growth. The setting for good jobs and a brighter future. The building blocks of a strong, thriving community.
And in the next four years I will fight day and night to keep all 10,000 officers on the job. Keep our police force at its highest level in history. And in the next four years, we are going to get even tougher on the root causes of crime.
Mayor Villaraigosa
Second Inaugural Address
July 1, 2009
In the next four years, Mayor Villaraigosa will:
Los Angeles Police, Fire and Emergency Management Departments
• Police Recruitment: 1,000 New Cops
The Mayor remains committed to strengthening the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to an unprecedented level of 10,000 officers by FY 2009-10. Through an aggressive LAPD hiring plan over the last four years, Los Angeles has reduced its per capita crime rate to the lowest level in over 50 years.
• Community Law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) Program
The Mayor continues to work towards the expansion of the CLEAR program and aims to develop 10 new CLEAR program sites within FY 2009-10. A joint effort between the City and County of Los Angeles, the CLEAR program coordinates resources into targeted areas of high gang crime in order to decrease gang violence and promote community recovery. Over the past three years, CLEAR primary targeted areas in 10 communities have experienced a 23% decrease in gang-related crime activities.
• Modernize and Restructure City’s Emergency Management Organizations
In the latter part of 2008, the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Public Safety worked very closely with the Emergency Management Department (EMD), Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and other City agencies to develop a comprehensive initiative to enhance our preparedness and planning efforts. The Mayor continues to work with City emergency departments to ensure LA appropriately adapts and improves its disaster response capacity and remains a leader in disaster response.
• Upgrade Emergency Systems and Equipment
The Mayor is dedicated to supporting the City’s emergency personnel by ensuring that first responders have the appropriate tools and resources to rapidly and effectively respond to any emergency. The development and continued support of the following initiatives help ensure the safety and security of our communities and first responders:
• Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS)
The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communication System (LA-RICS) is a collaborative effort of law enforcement, fire service, school and university officials, and health service professionals with elected and appointed officials to implement a regional interoperable radio communication system. The new system will allow interagency coordination and response to routine, emergency, and catastrophic events across the region among first responders as well as State and Federal agencies.
• Automatic Vehicle Locators
The use of the Automatic Vehicles Locators (AVL) within emergency respond resources will allow the department to know where the closest resource is to an incident and potentially reduce response times. Automatic Vehicles Locators (AVL) project will not only increase the effectiveness of emergency response but will also save the City millions by more efficiently deploying emergency resources.
• Emergency Operations Center
In March of 2002, voters approved Proposition Q, a $600 million public safety bond measure to fund construction and renovation of police, fire and emergency management facilities including a $107 million fund to construct a new emergency operations facility. The City’s current EOC has been in use since 1971 and does not have adequate space or technological capability to address the needs of the growing region.
The new center will serve as a focal point for coordination of the City’s response to and recovery from major disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes and acts of terrorism. The facility will also house a new Fire Dispatch Center, Fire Department Operations Center, and Police Department Operations Center, which will provide essential co-location of the City’s major disaster preparedness and response agencies.
• LAFD Professional Standards Division (PSD)
The Mayor continues to support development of the Professional Standards Division to ensure the highest level of integrity in LAFD and positively address the wide diversity of cultures and beliefs in the department. PSD continues to work with department members to improve the investigations process, effectively and efficiently address disciplinary concerns, and respond to community concerns.
• Graffiti Abatement Efforts
In order to combat the negative impacts and growth of graffiti in Los Angeles, the Mayor’s Public Safety Action team is currently in the process of reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of anti-graffiti programs in other cities and counties. The Mayor’s Graffiti Task Force leads and coordinates city departments in developing graffiti abatement strategies, including development of the Tracking Automated Graffiti Reporting System (TAGRS) and education and public awareness campaigns.
• Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) Program
The Mayor is dedicated to ensuring that the City is prepared to respond quickly and effectively during major disasters. In addition to supporting the LAFD, LAPD and other city emergencies, the Mayor continues to strengthen and support the CERT program. Through LAFD training, the CERT program provides Los Angeles residents and communities with basic first aid skills, increased disaster awareness and disaster preparedness education. Since its inception, LAFD’s CERT program has trained over 40,000 residents in Los Angeles, prepares community residents to support our City’s emergency responders and, when necessary, respond to emergencies during disasters.
Gang Reduction & Youth Development
We must also increase our efforts and go deeper in addressing the root causes of gang crime and violence. The Gang Reduction and Youth Development office will continue to serve as the central driving force for these efforts. During the second term we will continue to implement our overall gang reduction and youth development strategy and launch or undertake the following initiatives:
• Expand Summer Night Lights (SNL) from 16 sites to 50 sites by 2013
We will continue to grow the successful Summer Night Lights program that seeks to provide alternative recreational, artistic, cultural, and social programs in our parks and recreational facilities during the summer months when gang violence typically peaks. The guiding philosophy of Summer Night Lights is to provide programming for entire communities; both potential victims and potential perpetrators of violence, and to reduce overall violence in these targeted areas.
• Professionalize the field of gang intervention and establish the Los Angeles Violence Intervention
Training Academy
We will develop a singular training academy that will incorporate theory, practice, professional standards, and relevant curriculum to professionalize the field of Community Intervention Workers (CIW). This academy will consist of a one hundred hour basic course required for certification, as well as six annual 20-25 hour seminars that will be offered to CIW’s of which attendance at two will be mandatory to maintain certification.
• Implementation and validation of the Youth Services Eligibility Tool (YSET)
In addition to focusing our gang-prevention funds in twelve geographic areas, we have developed and are piloting an innovative evaluation tool to make sure that our programs enroll only those youngsters who are most vulnerable to joining a gang. The YSET screens youth ages 10-15 for elevated risk factors for gang joining to determine eligibility for our programs. We will screen nearly 10,000 youth during the next four years, enroll those most at risk for gang joining into programs, and validate the survey with the help of a National Institutes of Justice grant received by the University of Southern California.