New LAPD chief: People don't call the police enough

LOS ANGELES – Crime is on the decline in Los Angeles, with the homicide rate alone on track to drop 15% from last year, but newly sworn-in LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell is concerned the statistics don’t tell the full story .

McDonnell, speaking ahead of Thursday’s ceremony marking his arrival as the city’s 59th police chief, expressed concern about the perception of disorder — and the reality that crimes go unreported because some believe nothing will be done to investigate.

McDonnell said he would prefer to see the city’s crime rate rise because it would give him a real picture of the problem and a better idea of what to do to address it.

“Our officers and professional staff are working very hard to further reduce those numbers,” he said. “But public perception is based on a number of different things, and one of those things, I think, is that they would say that reported crime has gone down because people don’t have confidence that anything will be done. ”

That candor is one factor that led Mayor Karen Bass to turn to the 65-year-old McDonnell as the new chief.

McDonnell, the son of Irish immigrants who still sounds as if he never left Boston despite spending more than four decades in Southern California, previously served as sheriff and chief of police in L.A. County’s Long Beach. He started his career as a police officer in the LAPD and rose through the ranks in the 1980s and 1990s – an era when crime was off the charts compared to today.

McDonnell said some citizens have become hesitant to call police in recent years because they didn’t feel like anything “meaningful” would be done.

He placed some of the blame on prosecutors for failing to file charges in many low-level crimes — a policy that is expected to change next month when Nathan Hochman takes over as LA County district attorney, replacing the progressive incumbent George Gascon. Voters in the state also passed Proposition 36, which would implement tougher penalties for certain types of theft and drug crimes.

McDonnell said: “Encouraging people who are victims of crime to come forward and report that crime gives us a better ability to deploy resources and develop strategies to deal with these issues.”

He added: “It may increase our crime rates, but it gives us a more realistic picture of what we are dealing with.”

During Thursday’s ceremony, Bass said the new chief has “already hit the ground running” with community meetings and efforts to evaluate the needs of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I am very clear that my most important job as mayor is to keep people safe, and that the only way to improve safety in Los Angeles is to make change,” Bass said, adding that McDonnell insisted is aimed at “ensuring that our city is prepared for what lies ahead.”

In his public comments Thursday, McDonnell said he will spend his first 90 days on the job listening, evaluating and planning how to move forward.

“Priority one is tackling crime, particularly violent and property crime,” he said.

McDonnell listed his other priorities as transparency and accountability, addressing homelessness, improving emergency preparedness and “the responsible adoption and use of technology with an steadfast commitment to privacy.”

The chief also apparently tried to allay concerns that the LAPD under his watch would be overly aggressive.

“Let me be very clear: reducing crime and building trust are not separate goals,” he said. “They are deeply intertwined. We must be true partners in the pursuit of justice, united by a shared commitment to security and mutual respect.”

In comments before the speech, McDonnell expressed dismay that retailers were closing stores in low-income areas, further widening food deserts. At the root of the problem, he says, is a “fear that crime is becoming more common,” a perception fueled by viral videos of stores being robbed by large groups of teenagers.

“When you walk into stores, everything you want is behind locked plastic boxes,” McDonnell said. “Those are signs of dysfunction.”

The first test of McDonnell’s approach as chief will likely be MacArthur Park, where crime, gang activity, homelessness and drug use have raged.

In 2003, during his previous stint with the LAPD, McDonnell helped clean up the park, but he admits that today it is in “pretty desperate trouble” and calls it “a magnet for activity that is detrimental to the neighborhood .”

“All players who have an interest in that area must do their part and be able to offer something towards a solution,” the chief said. “If everyone jumps in, I think it could look very different in three to six months.”

McDonnell said he is considering expanding programs where officers work with doctors on mental health teams. He also supports efforts to have someone other than officers respond to incidents where people are in crisis, although he noted that funding for such initiatives remains limited.

Another challenge McDonnell faces is having enough officers to carry out his vision. In the fifteen years he has been away from the LAPD, the department’s membership has dropped from nearly 10,000 to 8,800.

A recent class at the academy had just 23 people — less than half the enrollment during the years McDonnell was last with the LAPD.

“We have the ability to get 60 people per class, but that’s not close,” he said, adding that he hoped the department would quickly streamline the hiring process.

McDonnell has had organizational charts in his office for years, and the ranks of commanders have grown with more specialized responsibilities. He said he believed some restructuring is needed and that there are too many “silos” operating separately. He raised the possibility of reassigning those in administrative roles to patrol, given the downsized size of the department.

“We also can’t ignore the fact that we need more good people who are interested in this job and want to come into the job,” McDonnell said.

The chief said he sees police work as “helping someone on the worst day of their life to manage what they’re dealing with, or to bring justice to a family.”

He echoed that sentiment in his speech at Thursday’s ceremony, in which he spoke about the importance of remembering the humans behind crime data.

“These numbers are not abstract markers,” he said. “They are real people with real stories, survivors who carry the weight of the crime long after the headlines have faded. … For every statistic there are lived experiences, people whose lives have been turned upside down, whose sense of security has been shattered.”

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