Well, we at the LAPD do not wish to be party of the arming of (lawful) people, however, because we cannot afford to, we will not be responding to home invasions, robberies, and the fire dept. will no longer be responding to brush fires as they do not endanger the lives of people, immediately.
Story
LAPD?s staffing shortages mean fewer
Valley patrols
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
Valley police divisions are abandoning entire mid-shift
patrols because they don?t have enough officers and their
local commanders can?t approve overtime for the shifts, the
Daily News has learned.
Coupled with a shortage of
firefighters and paramedics in
the Los Angeles Fire
Department, the police
shortage brings questions of
who?s available to answer
emergency calls, or how
quickly.
"My ongoing frustration with
both the Fire Department and
the Police Department is that
you can never get straight and
accurate answers about how
many officers are deployed and
where they are deployed," said
City Councilwoman Laura
Chick, whose district includes
the West Valley. "The numbers shift like sand. What is the
deployment going to be like when the (Democratic National)
Convention is up and running in a few weeks?"
The Los Angeles Police Department?s staffing shortage
comes as some areas of the Valley are reporting increases in
crime. Police say they are taking longer to get to emergencies
because their ranks are stretched so thin.
The shortage of personnel forced police on Thursday to
cancel a pair of four-officer shifts intended to patrol the West
Valley Division when the LAPD?s afternoon and night shifts
are changed.
Other Valley divisions have been affected by the officer
shortages. The Foothill Division did away with its
four-person, mid-day shift in March. The Devonshire and
North Hollywood divisions have had to cancel cars on
occasion, but haven?t had to to cancel shifts. Officers from
the Van Nuys Division have been forced to respond to calls
across the Valley.
"What happened (Thursday) night is symptom of the lack of
personnel," said the West Valley?s top officer, Capt. Donald
Floyd. "But it doesn?t mean that there weren?t any cops on
the street. We would be more effective if we had a full
complement of personnel. It does have an impact on crime.
This is something we live with all the time."
Typically, 10 cars are assigned to the West Valley Division?s
three main eight-hour shifts, which begin at 11 p.m., 7 a.m.,
and 3 p.m. Four officers each are assigned to two afternoon
and night shifts. The officers are assigned to patrol the streets
to give relief to the officers on the main shifts. These two
shifts were canceled Thursday because five officers were in
training, and three others had the day off.
Floyd said that his overtime budget will not allow him to pay
for officers to cover the short shifts.
"I?ll pay OT for officers to go to court, or if a cop is bringing
in an arrestee late," he said.
LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank said it is not uncommon
for a division anywhere in the city to cancel the number of
cars on shifts.
"It?s not uncommon to be short on any shift," he said Friday.
"The day watch shift routinely is short because that?s a shift
where officers get subpoenaed to court. Sometimes officers
call in sick. Others are in training."
Frank?s explanation was no consolation to Woodland Hills
Homeowners Organization President Gordon Murley.
"If we were to put together all their excuses, we?d have the
largest book ever put together in the whole world," he said.
"The LAPD allows too much switching around of times. If
you don?t have a commitment to do the job at the time they
were hired to do it, then they shouldn?t be doing police work."
Lt. Frank rebutted: "These are not excuses, they?re facts of
life."
Staffing shortages are nothing new to the LAPD. In 1998, the
Police Department borrowed 42 Valley cops to fill its ranks in
other city divisions. As a result, the Valley had recorded some
of the slowest response times in the city.
The shortages continue. The LAPD is in the middle of a
nationwide recruiting drive that hasn?t made a dent in the
700 spots it needs to fill.
Officers on the street Friday said that the staffing shortages
are chipping away at morale.
A patrol officer from the West Valley Division said that
during the past couple of months, as few as eight cars have
been sent out to patrol during a shift.
"We are supposed to have a minimum of 10, so the public is
losing out on public service," said the officer, who asked not
to be identified. "Our response time is going down and morale
is going down."
The officer said on many occasions, officers don?t even have
enough time to eat during their work day.
"If calls are too heavy . . . we don?t get our request granted to
eat," he said, shaking his head.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
Story
LAPD?s staffing shortages mean fewer
Valley patrols
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
Valley police divisions are abandoning entire mid-shift
patrols because they don?t have enough officers and their
local commanders can?t approve overtime for the shifts, the
Daily News has learned.
Coupled with a shortage of
firefighters and paramedics in
the Los Angeles Fire
Department, the police
shortage brings questions of
who?s available to answer
emergency calls, or how
quickly.
"My ongoing frustration with
both the Fire Department and
the Police Department is that
you can never get straight and
accurate answers about how
many officers are deployed and
where they are deployed," said
City Councilwoman Laura
Chick, whose district includes
the West Valley. "The numbers shift like sand. What is the
deployment going to be like when the (Democratic National)
Convention is up and running in a few weeks?"
The Los Angeles Police Department?s staffing shortage
comes as some areas of the Valley are reporting increases in
crime. Police say they are taking longer to get to emergencies
because their ranks are stretched so thin.
The shortage of personnel forced police on Thursday to
cancel a pair of four-officer shifts intended to patrol the West
Valley Division when the LAPD?s afternoon and night shifts
are changed.
Other Valley divisions have been affected by the officer
shortages. The Foothill Division did away with its
four-person, mid-day shift in March. The Devonshire and
North Hollywood divisions have had to cancel cars on
occasion, but haven?t had to to cancel shifts. Officers from
the Van Nuys Division have been forced to respond to calls
across the Valley.
"What happened (Thursday) night is symptom of the lack of
personnel," said the West Valley?s top officer, Capt. Donald
Floyd. "But it doesn?t mean that there weren?t any cops on
the street. We would be more effective if we had a full
complement of personnel. It does have an impact on crime.
This is something we live with all the time."
Typically, 10 cars are assigned to the West Valley Division?s
three main eight-hour shifts, which begin at 11 p.m., 7 a.m.,
and 3 p.m. Four officers each are assigned to two afternoon
and night shifts. The officers are assigned to patrol the streets
to give relief to the officers on the main shifts. These two
shifts were canceled Thursday because five officers were in
training, and three others had the day off.
Floyd said that his overtime budget will not allow him to pay
for officers to cover the short shifts.
"I?ll pay OT for officers to go to court, or if a cop is bringing
in an arrestee late," he said.
LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank said it is not uncommon
for a division anywhere in the city to cancel the number of
cars on shifts.
"It?s not uncommon to be short on any shift," he said Friday.
"The day watch shift routinely is short because that?s a shift
where officers get subpoenaed to court. Sometimes officers
call in sick. Others are in training."
Frank?s explanation was no consolation to Woodland Hills
Homeowners Organization President Gordon Murley.
"If we were to put together all their excuses, we?d have the
largest book ever put together in the whole world," he said.
"The LAPD allows too much switching around of times. If
you don?t have a commitment to do the job at the time they
were hired to do it, then they shouldn?t be doing police work."
Lt. Frank rebutted: "These are not excuses, they?re facts of
life."
Staffing shortages are nothing new to the LAPD. In 1998, the
Police Department borrowed 42 Valley cops to fill its ranks in
other city divisions. As a result, the Valley had recorded some
of the slowest response times in the city.
The shortages continue. The LAPD is in the middle of a
nationwide recruiting drive that hasn?t made a dent in the
700 spots it needs to fill.
Officers on the street Friday said that the staffing shortages
are chipping away at morale.
A patrol officer from the West Valley Division said that
during the past couple of months, as few as eight cars have
been sent out to patrol during a shift.
"We are supposed to have a minimum of 10, so the public is
losing out on public service," said the officer, who asked not
to be identified. "Our response time is going down and morale
is going down."
The officer said on many occasions, officers don?t even have
enough time to eat during their work day.
"If calls are too heavy . . . we don?t get our request granted to
eat," he said, shaking his head.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
