KTLA News: "New LAPD undercover task force targets violent crime in West Los Angeles" (1980)

The violent crime task force will be on the streets waiting and looking for potential trouble disguised as ordinary lawabiding citizens like the kind who have become victims of violence in a city that is now plagued by robbery, muggings, and murder. Undercover cops will work out of the LAPD Operations West Bureau and direct their force into high crime areas of Venice, Hollywood, and West LA. Deputy Chief Dan Sullivan says this is a high-risk operation requiring the brightest officers the department has to offer. >> The key to the selection of people in the task force is judgment and uh each situation uh has to be handled differently. Obviously, we wouldn't I wouldn't want one of these officers engaging in a shootout in a restaurant where there are patrons that are liable to get hurt. The goal is to prevent the robbery from occurring, not to capture a criminal after a robbery. >> Sullivan feels police have been intimidated by public pressure in the media, but a new aggressive approach will now be in effect on the streets. there seems to be a tendency of for officers to be uh maybe overly cautious in how they talk to people. And uh I am telling my officers uh uh if you see someone walking down a street at a late and unusual hour 2 in the morning carrying a newspaper. It may be someone who lives in the neighborhood and maybe he's a law-abiding citizen. But I want the officers to talk to him, find out if he is. If he is, we'll wish him a merry Christmas. If he isn't, we're going to find out why he's there. And if he's a criminal, he's liable to wind up in jail. [Music] [Music] [Music] Deputy Chief Sullivan has issued a warning to the entire criminal element in this city that the next victim they pick on may be a police officer working undercover and it just might turn out that the criminal is the one who ends up getting hurt in West Los Angeles. I'm Skyler Sprouse for News at 10. [Music] All right, Chief. What prompted this uh this violent crimes task force? >> Well, I'm sure you're aware of the recent uh series of vicious robbery murders that have beenur occurring in the west side of Los Angeles. And uh I have noted that we don't have a great deal of trouble capturing criminals after the fact. We caught the Sunday killers. We've arrested any number of robbers after the robbery. But I don't believe that makes the citizens feel safer. They feel they want to know that they can walk the streets and feel safe at night when they do it. So, uh, I've decided to implement this violent crime task force that will deal with a criminal at the street level. I want the criminals to know that the next person that that they think about attacking on a bus bench might be an undercover officer. The elderly couple walking the street uh near the synagogue is liable to be two undercover officers. And I will guarantee him that the officers will be uh the very best that I have in West Bureau. They will be well trained in excellent physical condition. And the bottom line is if uh anyone is going to get hurt during the commission of a robbery or a rape or some kind of a vicious assault on the streets of this bureau, it's going to be the criminal and not some citizen. >> Could you give me an idea how it might work? say in a coffee shop if there is a holdup in progress and there is a an officer part of this task force that happens to be in the restaurant uh what we will do is identify the uh the districts those small areas that we report the reporting districts those that have the most crime will be targeted in the four west bureau areas of Hollywood Wilshire West LA and Venice the crime crime task force will work in those areas. Uh if there's a uh a robbery in a restaurant, we'll have to take appropriate action. It may be outside >> are just a little bit intimidated about approaching people that might be suspicious these days. >> I think they are with the uh constant stream of criticism, the recent court decisions will appreciate that. And those who don't like the idea of being stopped and inconvenience for uh a minute or two, well, that's just too bad because uh we're going to protect them from being victims in spite of themselves. >> Thank you. [Music] [Music] Deputy Chief Sullivan has issued a warning to the entire criminal element in this city that the next victim they pick on just may turn out to Yeah. >> Deputy Chief Sullivan has issued a warning to the entire criminal element in this city that the next victim they pick on may be a police officer working undercover. And it just may turn out that the criminal gets go.