Bratton Seeks a 10% Drop in Major Crimes

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton on Thursday announced a goal of a 10% drop in major crimes this year, but set no goal for suppressing homicides.

Bratton set broad goals for the LAPD, including crime reduction, while warning that the department probably can’t do more without additional officers and better technology.

“Is it getting tougher? It certainly is,” said Bratton, flanked at a news conference by Mayor James K. Hahn, who is using the chief’s public safety record as the backbone of his reelection bid.

“We have asked the Police Department to do too much with too little for too long,” said Hahn, who is seeking a ballot measure for a half-cent sales tax increase for public safety. “It is important to do it now because you have the momentum, and we can’t lose that momentum.”

Last year, major crimes citywide dropped 10.5%. Violent crimes, which include homicides, rapes and assaults, fell 13.6%, missing Bratton’s stated target of 20%.

Nationwide, New York City’s major crimes declined 4.8% and homicides dropped 4.4%. In Chicago, homicides fell 25%. Nationwide in the first half of last year, the FBI reported that violent crimes dropped 5% in big cities.

Bratton offered no goal for reducing homicides, later explaining that the big drop in homicides in his first year was the result of a short-term shift of resources into the parts of South Los Angeles with the highest homicide rates.

In 2003, his first year in office, Bratton set a goal of a 25% reduction in homicides, and landed virtually on target. Last year, homicides fell from 517 to 515, well short of Bratton’s goal of a 20% reduction.

On Thursday, Bratton picked a related but different category of crimes on which to base his prediction. Because it includes many more types of crimes than last year, observers said the new goal would be easier to meet.

Other LAPD goals that Bratton mentioned are compliance with a federal consent decree assuring that the department respects citizens’ civil liberties and protecting the city from terrorism.

Bratton also said he will push for further reductions in the time it takes for the Los Angeles Police Department to respond to emergency calls. That figure dropped 25% last year, to 6.7 minutes, the best in many years.

Bratton again pledged to assign every officer in an administrative assignment to a month of patrol to heighten the department’s presence on city streets.

He said the improvements came as resources fell. At the end of last year, the LAPD had 9,097 officers, compared with 9,278 at the end of 2003, he said

James Fox, professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston, applauded Bratton’s tenure in Los Angeles, but questioned the unusual tactic of announcing crime-reduction goals.

“Bratton is a terrific leader. His intention here is good. But the idea of setting up numbers in some circumstances can drive people to do whatever they need to do to ensure those numbers are lower,” Fox said. “It is easy to make an aggravated assault a simple assault. I am not saying that would happen, but it has happened elsewhere.”

A key to his plans, Bratton said, is Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca’s ability to keep convicted criminals in jail longer. Because of funding shortfalls, inmates have been released after serving as little as 10% of their sentences.

Hahn used Thursday’s news conference with Bratton to try to build support for a citywide referendum on a proposed half-cent sales tax increase for public safety.

All of Hahn’s challengers have criticized the mayor for failing to provide more police, and each claims to have a plan for doing so.

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Los Angeles crime declines

Chief William J. Bratton set a goal of a further 10% reduction in major crimes for 2005, building on the record of his first two years as chief of the LAPD.

*--* Crime 2002 2004 % decrease Homicide 647 515 20% Rape 1,246 1,073 14% Robbery 17,072 13,990 18% Aggravated assault 18,940 15,295 19% Child/Spousal abuse 13,432 11,031 18% Total violent crimes 51,337 41,904 18% Burglary 24,893 22,637 9% Automobile burglary 42,188 36,871 13% Personal/Other theft 36,388 32,580 11% Automobile theft 32,370 28,260 13% Total property crimes 135,839 120,348 11% Total major crimes 187,176 162,252 13%

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Source: LAPD