"Those Are Not Good Odds"

Los Angeles, CA

There's an article today in the LA Times about the troubled South Bureau division, the centerpiece for the 1965 and 1991 Riots, and more recently the Susie Pena and Devin Brown shootings.

It's an interesting snapshot of a place so far down the hole, it's hard to see the sky. The place has been a mess for decades, and continues to be.

South Los Angeles has one of the highest concentrations of weapons in the city. Over 2,000 guns were confiscated last year, alone. The LAPD is well on its way to matching that record this year.

Though the homicide rate has been dropping, it's still three times as high as the citywide average. The LAPD simply does not have enough officers to effectively police the entire city, much less the 57 square miles of South Los Angeles. For a residential population of 700,000 there are only 1,460 officers.

As LAPD assistant chief Earl Paysinger puts it, "Those are not good odds."

Add to that the community distrust engendered by decades of the paramilitary style of law enforcement the LAPD is known for, and it's not surprising that this area is a hotspot.

On a positive note, though, it looks as though things are starting to get better. The emphasis has been shifting from a troop mentality to a community relationship model. The LAPD seems to have finally started realizing that they can't operate without the coopoeration of the people it's sworn to protect.

Hopefully, they'll do a good enough job to avoid another riot.