Police Captains Have Opinions Too !

I once ventured to downtown Los Angeles on more
than one occassion before the mayor and chief of
police decided to clean house. I can tell ya that it
was like being in a third world country. But then
I wonder if third world countries put up with drug
use that was on display there. A few month ago I
went through downtown LA and was amazed.
The whole place had changed and for once I was
not so afraid. No bodies laying on sidewalks in
cardboard crackhouses, instead the people that
were on the sidewalks seemed to be trying to make
a legitimate living selling merchandise. So Captian
Andrew Smith is allowed his opinion to since he is
partly responsible for the tranformation of skid row.


I AM THE CAPTAIN for the LAPD's Central Division, which encompasses downtown and all of skid row. Like the police officers who patrol skid row, I was sorely disappointed by Ramona Ripston's complete distortion — in a column on this page — of our efforts to stem the lawlessness, suffering and human misery that was commonplace on skid row just a few months ago. I am outraged that Ripston, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, implied that our officers are violating the very Constitution they are sworn to uphold and protect.

The officers in skid row, who all volunteer for the assignment, have one of the lowest rates for the use of force in the city. And I am even more appalled by her views because she walked skid row streets with our officers and rode around in a black-and-white last year and was shocked then at the horrific conditions under which our most vulnerable citizens survived. How quickly she forgot!How quickly she forgot that convicted murderers, rapists, robbers, 3,800 parolees and 300-plus registered sex offenders called the 50 square blocks of skid row home. How quickly she forgot the dealers dangling narcotics in front of those trying to kick drugs.

Many other predators were hiding among the street population, preying on the weak, addicted and mentally ill. Fortunately, the terrible culture of lawlessness that was once the norm on skid row is quickly changing for the better. Despite the efforts of the ACLU and other self-appointed champions of the homeless to thwart us, the Los Angeles Police Department is succeeding in protecting the vulnerable on skid row and in curbing the lawlessness: Fewer people are dying of drug overdoses; paramedic calls are down; crime has plummeted 36% so far this year, on top of an 18% reduction in 2006, and nobody who has wanted a bed and follows the rules has been left on the streets.

Moreover, missions report that more people are seeking beds and treatment, and our Streets or Services (SOS) program is diverting misdemeanor arrestees away from jail and into treatment and housing programs. The people living on the streets and the people living in the missions, hotels and apartments in the area report that they are feeling safer — because they are safer. Ripston referred to several people on skid row who claimed that they were "harassed" for no reason. She decried the "jaywalking tickets" our officers write. We write traffic tickets to change behavior, not to harass the homeless. Consider that, in 2006, four out of six traffic deaths in the Central Division were caused by pedestrians in the roadway, as were all three traffic deaths so far this year.

Just a few months ago, skid row was where "anything goes" — an open-air drug bazaar with blatant outdoor acts of prostitution. Today, about 1,200 of those dealing (selling heroin or rock cocaine) are in jail. Hundreds of parole violators are back in prison. Ripston asks: Where did all the homeless people go? I am sure some people have chosen to go to other communities where they can continue their criminal behavior. But many others who used to hang around skid row actually had a home; they just chose to stay on skid row because of the cheap and plentiful drugs, alcohol and prostitution.




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