During our exploration of Echo Park, we learned that this community was under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police Department, Rampart Division. The Rampart Community Police Stations is responsible for keeping order in Angelino Heights, Echo Park, Historic Filipinotown, Korea Town, Lafayette Park, Macarthur Park, Pico-Union, Temple-Beaudry, Virgil Village, and Westlake. The Rampart Community Police Station was recently moved to 1401 West 6th St., Los Angeles, CA. 90017. The Rampart Division counts with 380 policemen who provide their service to almost 400,000 people, within an eight-square-mile area.
We were informed by Officer Louis Ford from the Rampart Division that he is part of the 9 service leaders, who actually function as listeners and explanation providers for public concerns. These leaders keep the community continuously informed of what is happening within the neighborhoods and wear many different hats. They have accomplished significant improvements in the community attitude toward police.
Regarding crime trends Officer Ford mentioned that at the beginning of his career 19 years ago, the homicide rate within Rampart Division was about 148 cases per year for 6.2 square mile area. However, today it has decreased to 25 homicides a year for 6.2 square mile area. Officer Ford stated that the Rampart community is much safer than in the past. Currently, robbery is the most prevalent crime in the Rampart community. The decline of crime within this area could be attributed to many changes that have happened within this area. Officer Ford explained that immigration has played an integral part in the crime decline. Ninety nine percent of the population within this area was Hispanic, and sixty five percent were illegal. The involvement of immigration and the FBI significantly contributed to this community’s safety. Another contributing factor to the crime decline in this area was the better use of resources, such as the use of computers. With the help of computers, crime patterns could be analyzed and used to help prevent crime. Lastly, Officer Ford proudly added that Rampart has always been known for hard working police officers and with their intense police work crime decrease.
An important element used for social control, is the gang injunction or court issued restraining order, which allows the application of hard penalties to certain individuals, usually gang members, who participate in activities, such as gathering together in public places, wearing gang attire, possessing alcohol or spray- paint cans, intimidating people, and so on. About more than 11,000 individuals and 66 gangs shape the list of injunctions in Los Angeles (Echo Park participates in this list with 5 gangs). To learn more about gang injunctions go to The Los Angeles Police Department website: http://www.lapdonline.org/gang_injunctions
Police force is responsible for maintaining social control within the neighborhoods; however, regarding crime reduction, much credit has to be given to the many community members (residents, businesses and organizations) who have been deeply involved in the processes of crime monitoring and crime prevention. Throughout our exploration of Echo Park, there was a noticeable presences of signs warning against crime.
No comments:
Post a Comment