KTLA News: "Councilman Robert Farrell discusses crime and deployment of LAPD..." (1978)

The Los Angeles Police Department Crime Task Force is the most visible and the most active aspect of what is building into a major offensive by local government against crimes of violence. The task force operation has the wholehearted support of Councilman Robert Farrell, who's been critical in the past about police treatment of minorities. To this day, this morning, I have yet to hear of any complaint alleging overreaction by police or nonprofessional conduct by police officers as they have been deployed in South Los Angeles. And I am very proud of that. I had high expectations for the police before. I have high expectations now. And the police officers are living up to my expectation. They are professionals doing their job well. >> Farrell made the remarks at a news conference he called to announce his introduction of some 30 anti-rime motions he submitted to the city council. Frell's focus is on social causes of crime. And one of his recommendations, for instance, is the shutdown of Nickerson Gardens, a crime plagued city housing project at Imperial and Compton. There are not enough police in South Bureau to make uh the streets of Nickersonson Garden as safe to walk on as uh right outside here at First in Maine. >> Two of the resolutions Frell has introduced would create a lottery to raise funds for anti-rime activities and prod the city planning department to key urban design to lessen the impact of crime. Frell calls it a basic approach to what he sees as a farreaching social problem. It obviously will take time and money for social programs like those suggested by Councilman Frell to take effect. In the meantime, this will be the most visible sign of the war on crime in South Central Los Angeles. Mike Botula reporting for News at 10. Central. Check. We have Mr. Mr. and like improvement and good >> considerations on >> are attended to help give additional focus to the efforts being made to curb crime in the city of Los Angeles. Their range is in keeping with my belief that there's more to dealing with crime than hiring and placing more police officers in patrol units. Additional resources for law enforcement and concern about their rapid deployment is an important responsibility but not the only one of the city. I believe that all officers, employees and department functions of the city existed for generate and in many instances more aggressive approaches to confront conditions which I believe contribute to crime. They include requests for new ordinances. They include requests for action by the legislature. They include requests to review the work we do and in some instances requests to expedite it. I'm also glad that uh there are two patterns of motions that I'm not bringing into Los Angeles and who are members of the task force for doing a thorough professional job in a community that needs them very much. >> Is the task force helping to cut down any of the crime? >> Look at the numbers. >> Would you thought some of those numbers specifically? I couldn't give you the the count as of this morning, but the numbers are as impressive as they are in other parts of the city. >> Can you give us an idea what you're talking about specifically? >> You're going to bring in, >> right? U we're borrowing one that was advocated by the Herald Examiner editorially that um the indemnification of private citizens programs be supported in u their reenactment and refinancing in the state legislature. Uh, I'm moving that the city sponsor legislation that would impose a special tax on the sale of alcoholic beverage be beverages in order to continue payment for victim reimbursement through the indemnification of private citizens programs. Uh, the police statistics show that a great a great number of the problems we have uh have in their genesis someone who is not responsible in the consumption of alcohol. So many of us uh in the state feel that the u uh alcohol transfer is a place that we can recover some of the costs to us in local and state government. I'm going to ask that the city of Los Angeles sponsor legislation that addresses an aspect of uh prison reform which is important as we look to the kinds of crime that we have on our streets in Los Angeles. that is funds and personnel being provided to the California Youth Authority so that young people sent to its institutions may receive certified training in some kind of viable vocation rather than just having young people I'm just saying that if you look at the crime statistics coming out of the gardens, the police telling you of the crimes that are create that are uh carried out on the corner of Central Avenue and Imperial Highway where people come running out of the project grounds and smash windows and grab purses and all the rest that you see that the city as a city controlled agency, a city participatory agency has a responsibility to uh address that. Is it because of the concentration of people? >> The landlord, it's part of the city's family. The city management has a responsibility to say we want the condition changed immediately or >> as soon as possible. >> Why not just increase? >> I'm just saying that there's a finite point in at which beyond uh that uh it's not cost effective and that's the kind of thing that we're looking at today. I don't understand what you're saying. I'm sorry. >> I'm saying that there may be a point beyond which we can't uh expend money to provide a standard of of safety and security to people in Nickersonen Gardens as we would to people who reside on streets and other residential areas in the city of Los Angeles. >> Oh, aren't you just dispersing it to other parts of the city? I mean, >> no, no, no, no, no. If you talk to people who are who are sociologists and behavioral scientists, they'll tell you that there are conditions which cause people to participate in some kinds of criminal activity. The police in South LA as it relates to the gang activity will tell you that one of the biggest determinants as to whether a young person in South LA or East LA participates in negative activities is peer pressure. and peer pressure needs a group of a certain size for it to take place. And I'm just saying that this to me is a viable way to approach it. Uh the the the deployment of police, the provision of social services, all of the other things that have been applied in the area have not worked and crime has not gone down. >> Mr. President, members of the city council, I've known Mr. Schwendinger, but unfortunately at a different time, I would be most pleased or in a different position or to vote for Mr. Wednesday here. [Music] 76 97 459 just left 741 North 741 North. Suspect described as a male rat 15 to 16. The Bible will check 1406 Avenue Cortez. 101 nearby. Very clean 123. school 10 miles apart. And it looks like warrants down again. It's not returning. Follow that car.