Council members declined to unfreeze the $2.9 million Monday, saying savings from officer departures might still be achieved. They said they could revisit the question next month.
The billboards would include crime statistics reflecting a steep rise in shootings and shooting victims this year. Last month, homicides in L.A. rose past 300 for the first time since 2009.
The money will pay for the expansion of the Office of Violence Prevention within the city’s Health Department. And the plan moves more than a dozen civilian crime prevention specialist positions out of the Police Department and into another city agency.
Gascón also said his office would reevaluate and potentially resentence defendants who had been convicted with enhancements or California’s three-strike law, which requires a state prison term of 25 years to life. Gascón estimated such a move could affect at least 20,000 cases.
Mayor Frey said a significant spike in crime is affecting people all over the city. And he said people want to see police reform, but they also want there to be enough police officers available to respond to emergencies.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says violent crime is up more than 20 percent citywide compared with this time last year, and up 40 percent compared with two years ago. There have been 70 murders in the city this year, there were 39 in 2019.
Newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has selected a deadly 2015 police shooting in Long Beach as one of four cases he plans to reopen, it was reported Friday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the Board of Supervisors is "interfering with day-to-day operations" of the agency. "They have no business doing that and no legal authority to do that."
“I paid for a ride. He says he canceled it,” City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty told the dispatcher, who told her it was the driver’s right to do so. “So I’m going to sit here until he sends me another ride,” she said, with the dispatcher patiently telling her that only she could order one.
The board will also look into whether in the future the position should be appointed, like the Los Angeles Police Department chief, rather than elected. Another proposal under consideration is to create a county police department, diluting the power of the sheriff.