New Foot Patrols May Start Next Week
A new tactic for Los Angeles in the war on drugs and street crime--saturation police foot patrols in targeted crime hot spots--could begin as early as next week, Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon said Wednesday.
The Los Angeles City Council approved the patrols three weeks ago and Wednesday, after a lengthy debate over how to pay for the project, agreed to take $2.5 million out of reserve funds.
Under the program, which was pushed through by the council amid emotional pleas from residents of a crime-ridden Koreatown neighborhood, contingents of 10 to 20 foot officers will be deployed on a rotating basis to 18 crime and drug hot spots from the San Fernando Valley to Harbor City. Sixty officers will eventually participate.
Vernon said the foot officers will work days and evenings until “we have regained control of an area.”
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