Public Safety Concerns Surface Ahead of Council Vote on Sheriff Staffing

A series of residents voiced concerns at Monday night’s City Council meeting about criminal activity and the challenges of working with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station to report and resolve incidents.

Alex Silvermon, a resident of Kings Road, described a recent attempted theft that occurred at his apartment complex in the early morning hours of April 11. Two individuals were captured on security video entering the property and attempting to cut through his bike lock using a torch.

“The bike, which is worth around $2,500, was not taken, but the intent was obvious,” Silvermon told the council.

When he contacted the sheriff’s station to report the incident, he was told that because the bike wasn’t stolen, no crime had occurred. He questioned why attempted felony theft and trespassing weren’t considered grounds for a response.

“Only then did the dispatcher agree to send someone,” he said. “Eventually deputies did come and they were very professional, but they only categorized the incident as vandalism.”

Silvermon said this was not an isolated experience. At last year’s WeHo Pride Festival, he witnessed a distinctive pickpocket moving through the crowd and tried to alert law enforcement. He said he was repeatedly told that deputies could only take a report “for insurance.”

“To be clear, my interactions with deputies have always been respectful… but there shouldn’t be this much friction just to report a crime — especially when we’re trying to share evidence that could help keep our community safe,” he said.

Later in the meeting, business owner Jonathan Wilson described being followed and robbed of tens of thousands of dollars in what he characterized as a targeted attack.

“In attempting to file my report with the sheriff’s department, I had a few challenges with the intake process,” Wilson said. He credited acting captain Fanny Lapkin with helping resolve the situation and thanked several councilmembers by name for their support.

Wilson urged the city to adapt alongside increasingly sophisticated criminals. “As criminal predators become smarter, so should we as a city — while protecting all of our residents, businesses, and community members from becoming the next prey.”

The comments came ahead of a council discussion on staffing shortages within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Councilmember John Heilman introduced an item requesting that the city send a letter to the Board of Supervisors and to Sheriff Robert Luna, urging action to reduce staffing vacancies. Council ultimately moved forward with a revised version of the letter, clarifying that the issue was a shared responsibility across both county and departmental leadership.

The staff report noted that the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station is doing the best it can with the number of deputies currently available, but the city’s requests for more personnel and reduced overtime reliance have not been fulfilled. Countywide, the department faces more than 1,400 vacant deputy positions, a shortage that continues to strain law enforcement response in West Hollywood and other contract cities.