Mayor Lindsey Horvath will host a “Coffee with the Captain” conversation on Saturday with West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station Captain Gary S. Honings and Lieutenant David M. Smith.
The community event will take place at 10 a.m. at the City Council Chambers at 625 N. San Vicente Blvd, south of Santa Monica. Validated parking is available in the five-story parking structure at the rear.
The City of West Hollywood contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement. Local residents have raised questions in recent months about public safety, especially with several attacks in the city’s Boystown gay nightlife district. Perhaps the most controversial of those involved Kirk Doffing, who remains hospitalized after being attacked in an alley behind Rage bar on May 24. His attackers have not been identified.
The Sheriff’s Station has been criticized for not having more officers patrolling on foot in densely populated areas of West Hollywood and for a system in which deputies leave those areas around 2 a.m., when crowds spill out of the bars, to return to the office to fill out paperwork.
Of the 23 areas that the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department serves, West Hollywood ranks highest in Part I crimes, which are serious crimes including assault and burglary. While residents have raised questions about public safety in the city, to date the City Council has taken no action, with its members consistently reiterating their support for the Sheriff’s Station.
