Crime rise puts LAPD in a difficult position

[Disir]

The city's first major crime increase in more than a decade has Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck trying to maintain a delicate balance.

He wants to swarm high-crime neighborhoods with more than 200 highly trained officers from the elite Metropolitan Division without undermining years of progress the department has made in building better relationships with those communities.

The new crime-fighting strategy will be data-driven, Beck said, with deployments based in part on the crime pattern algorithms known as "predictive policing."

Parachuting reinforcements into unfamiliar territory on this scale marks a change from the LAPD's longtime community policing tactic of using beat cops to patrol neighborhoods. Metro officers are known more for their specialized tactical and weapons training than for their skills in building relationships with residents.
...Citywide, violent crime is up 26% and property crime is up 11%. While homicides are slightly down, the number of shooting victims has jumped 24% so far this year compared with the same period in 2014.

"It's necessary, and I'm really sorry that it is," Soboroff said. "It is a reaction to a rise in crime."
Crime rise puts LAPD in a difficult position - LA Times

That's going to be an interesting twist.

 

[william the wie]

Just a lurk.

 

[aaronleland]

I get the feeling law enforcement's community relations has slipped in recent years. After high profile cases like the Rodney King incident there seemed like a concerted effort to clean the ranks, and make more attempts at community outreach by the police. Maybe they have grown complacent over the years.