“Safer Cities Initiative” creates most heavily policed area in world



Latest

This rally is protesting the police killing of “Africa,” a homeless man living in a tent on Skid Row, the most heavily policed area in the country where homeless people are cited for “crimes” like walking too fast or slow, eating or standing. PHOTO/LYNN ROSSI
This rally is protesting the police killing of “Africa,” a homeless man living in a tent on Skid Row, the most heavily policed area in the country where homeless people are cited for “crimes” like walking too fast or slow, eating or standing.
PHOTO/LYNN ROSSI

 
LOS ANGELES, CA — September 26 is the 9th anniversary of the Safer Cities Initiative (S.C.I). This “initiative,” under the guise of “fighting crime,” has increased the number of police in the Skid Row section of downtown Los Angeles with its 12,000 residents, to create the most heavily policed area in the world, higher than Baghdad, Iraq.
In its first year, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) issued 12,000 citations, primarily signal (“walk”/”don’t walk”). The LAPD also made 750 arrests each month, mostly for drug violations, many resulting in plea bargaining and leaving the violator with a criminal record, thus ineligible for drug treatment or even food stamps.
In the Skid Row community of Los Angeles, “Walking too fast, walking too slow, eating and standing have all been criminalized.” (Clyde Woods, Traps, Skid Row and Katrina)
This stepped up police presence in Skid Row is the only answer the state has to the plight of a new class of poverty-stricken, formerly productive workers. These residents are not so much castoffs of the old society, but a new class created by robotics and the crumbs from McJobs. According to the Los Angeles Times, county-wide, the number of people sleeping in outdoor encampments or vehicles jumped 85% in the past two years.
Deindustrialization and new automated technologies in Los Angeles, of auto, rubber and shipbuilding, have created extremely powerful groups of real estate and financial speculators who are promoting a militarized police department through the Safer Cities Initiative to protect private property.
LACAN, a civil rights organization located in Skid Row, demands the LAPD immediately: 1. Stop the tickets. 2. Downsize the # of police. 3. Use “Smart Teams” (mental health professionals) for response to possible violation by persons with mental illness.
S.C.I. “legally annihilates the very spaces the homeless must rely on for everyday life in the post-welfare world” (Don Mitchell, Homelessness, American Style). S.C.I. has also been used in other parts of Los Angeles such as Venice and Hollywood.
The city’s budget for homelessness is $100 million with $87 million of this money going to the police. With each economic downturn in Los Angeles, the response to homelessness and poverty becomes more militarized, with the LAPD’s tanks, sound canons and violence increasingly used on every protest and independent action.
Thinly veiled “democracy for the rich” has become violent police rule for the poor. With every small improvement in the economy, “progressive” Democratic politicians such as Mayor Eric Garcetti, promise to adjust the harmful aspects of S.C.I. but not to abolish it. The “improvements” are cosmetic, inconsequential or never followed up on. Just last week Garcetti informed civil rights activists that he would not abolish the S.C.I.
On skid row, with the greatest number of police per square mile of any community in the city, SCI has been ineffectual in its supposed purpose of “fighting crime.” Across Los Angeles a nascent movement is recognizing the battle lines for a city where the hungry are fed, the homeless are housed and young people are taught.

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

1 COMMENT

  1. The Safer Cities Initiative is a racist travesty of police procedure. It must be done away with in the interests of civil liberties and the rule of law. Demilitarize the LAPD and stop creating false “high crime areas” by making mountains out of molehills.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Pregnant Teen Died: Seeks Care in Three Texas Emergency Rooms

Nevaeh Crain cried in pain, too weak to walk, blood staining her thighs. Vomiting and feverish at her baby shower, the teen went to two different emergency rooms, returning home, worse than before. Pregnant women have become untouchables.

No, Immigration Is Not Making Housing Less Affordable

Despite politicians' claims to the contrary, immigration is not making housing unaffordable. In fact, immigration can be part of the solution.

Make Your Vote Count 

This 2024 election is gaining on us and the pressure to get to the ballot box is intense and...

Michigan’s Prescient Lesson: Vote While You Still Can!!! 

Michigan's non-elected Emergency Manager dictatorship made Flint's water crisis possible. Pay attention to the danger of losing our Democratic rights as we’ve known them in this election. Vote while you still can!

US Doctors Tell Biden, Harris They ‘Witnessed Crimes Beyond Comprehension’ in Gaza

US doctors who visited Gaza tell Biden, Harris they've never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources, that our bombs are cutting down women and children, and that a ceasefire must be imposed.

More from the People's Tribune