Hollywood will soon see an increased police presence after the Los Angeles City Council approved funding Wednesday intended to address a recent increase of crime in the area — a stark contrast with West Hollywood, whose City Council recently voted to reduce the number of sheriff’s deputies on patrol over the next two years.
The council authorized $216,000 from the office of Councilman Mitch O’Farrell — who introduced the motion — to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood Division to add additional officer shifts. O’Farrell represents the Hollywood area.
According to the councilman’s office, there has been a 75% increase in homicides and a 35.6% increase in shots fired so far this year compared to last year — while robbery has gone up by 19.4% and theft has jumped by 24.7%.
“If you plan to come to Hollywood to commit crime, you are not welcome,” O’Farrell said last week. “All Angelenos should feel safe where they live and work.”
The demand for public safety has exceeded the available resources in Hollywood, according to the motion.
“Hollywood is as diverse, if not more, than any other part of the city itself, and having more resources concentrated in this area would be beneficial to ensuring public safety, particularly to the most vulnerable of society,” the motion says.
Blake Chow, deputy chief for the LAPD, said in a statement last week that people “need to feel safe when they’re in Hollywood.”
“We’re thankful to Council Member O’Farrell for these additional resources and look forward to quickly putting them to use to prevent, deter and address crime,” Chow said.
Let’s hope that come November we have a new majority on the council and we can eventually push out the newbies so that they’re one and done. It utterly astonishing how quickly people who don’t know what they’re doing can turn a thriving city into such a steep rapid decline.
Correct! These unsophisticated people playing at government are downright silly and annoying. Please leave town and let’s have a “Not Wanted” sign to anyone else considering the same path.
Lindsey Horvath voted to defund our police force to ensure the LA Times endorsement for her doomed Supervisor run.
We will likely get more police after the November election. It was ridiculous to equate real police with the losers on bikes.
Look at the Block By Block charts. How these flakes spend time is totally ludicrous. And a total fabrication. Most of the businesses I have talked to in the central part of West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard don’t ever see these guys. Bottom line, BBB was created as a janitor service By the parent company. If they were cleaning up the homeless feces , I could get why their existence would happen. On top of that you have an x con running it. All thanks to the SHE!
I challenge any journalist to interview Horvath, Ericsson and Soon Shiong regarding this. And ask why city of LA supervisors voted against 4AM last call.
The rise in crime occurred during the time when the WeHo Sheriff was fully funded. Moving funds to hire 30 Block by Block representatives seems to me a good option. The Sherriff deputies are overpaid and ineffective; except when protecting City Council members and staffers out and about on the streets of WeHo.
If you haven’t noticed Gascons policy’s are one of the root causes in the crime wave. Defunding police by now is known as just a political ploy and not the solution. It never was or we would not have a continued uptick in crime. It’s BS to satisfy woke mentality.
You are forgetting since 2020 West Hollywood was filled with riots, shops destroyed, demonstrations promoted by the likes of Horvath when she served as a totally incompetent Mayor. Plus, murders, shooting, stabbing, etc. Of course, the left wing District Attorney has been letting our criminals making the point crime pays. The deputies are not overpaid. What about City Hall executives? And the Block By Block goofy safety “no guns” patrol created by the incompetent Sepi Shyne ludicrous reimagining police work.
That is not exactly accurate. The Council cut deputies due to COVID, which at the time made sense. Then came the spike in crime. As our night life had returned to pre-COVID levels and our law enforcement didn’t, the rise in crime is not really surprising. So the Council response to a rise in crime was to cut deputies, which even with more “eyes on the street” with Block by Block, there will be delays in response times.
Why did it make sense to cut deputies during Covid? We are still in Covid. As I fear, Steve Martins comments on defund the police are full of ambiguity. Be careful who you all vote for in November.
If history provides any lessons, when Hollywood increases law enforcement, criminals tend to just cross La Brea into West Hollywood.
There are adults on the LA City Council while there is but one on the West Hollywood City Council.
One would thing the city should want to be known as the “Number One Safe City” by demonstrating to residents and visitors that “the City cares about you and your well being and works to promote your safety”.