Hold the Criticism, Please

For many years, senior lead officers within the Los Angeles Police Department have provided official liaison with community groups and leaders. That made the lead officers the most visible components of the LAPD’s neighborhood problem solving and community-oriented policing. These were the people to call when a problem began.

That type of policing was never the exclusive province of the veteran lead officers, of course, but they wound up trying to deal with more troubles than they could handle, largely because their numbers were so few. In 1991, for example, there were only 31 lead officers for the 220-square-mile San Fernando Valley.

The need to spread the problem-solving approach of the lead officers to officers on regular patrol duty has been discussed for several years. Now, Police Chief Bernard Parks appears to be taking the first coordinated steps toward finally get it done.

Under his reorganization of the LAPD, Parks has shifted about 160 lead officers to work in the field, training junior officers in community-oriented policing. The lead officers won’t disappear. In fact, they have been encouraged to maintain their neighborhood contacts. Sergeants meanwhile will take over some of the lead officers’ former duties.

This change has been met with dismay in neighborhoods that fear they are losing their most direct link to the department. Their angst is understandable. Over the years, citizens and many lead officers have built trust and alliances. But the criticisms and concerns over Parks’ first major initiatives are unwarranted and certainly premature. The aim is to have many more officers, not fewer, using these liaison techniques as part of regular patrol duties. Parks has also talked about evaluating officers on how well they interact with the communities they serve, in addition to rating them by standard performance measures.

All this should be viewed as part of the chief’s plan to reduce crime and increase authority, performance and accountability at the level of bureau and station commanders and below. Cutting crime and raising police accountability were goals of Mayor Richard Riordan’s reelection campaign and are standards by which Parks has said he expects to be judged. But the time for judgment is not now. The chief’s initiative ought to be applauded, and his plans deserve ample time to show results.