Part of a common site for Neighborhood Councils and Homeowners groups of the San Fernando Valley and information concerning the Valley issues Information about the November 5, 2002 election

LOS ANGELES IN CONTEXT: A Comparative Analysis of Current and Proposed Cities in Los Angeles County

SECTION 5: Police

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Table 5-1 Per Capita Police Expenditure
Table 5-2 Police Expenditure per Square Mile
Table 5-3 Police Expenditure per Road Mile
Table 5-4 Number of Personnel in the Los Angeles Police Department
Table 5-5 Percent Change in Total Personnel and Sworn Officers in the Los Angeles Police Department
Table 5-6 Violent Crime per 1,000 Residents vs. Police Expenditure per Capita
Table 5-7 Ratio, Per Capita Police Expenditures vs. Violent Crime per 1,000 Residents
Table 5-8 Police Support Index, 1999

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Graph 5-1 Police Expenditure Per Capita by Section of the City of Los Angeles
Graph 5-2 Police Expenditure Per Square Mile by Section of the City of Los Angeles
Graph 5-3 Police Expenditure Per Road Mile by Section of the City of Los Angeles
Graph 5-4 Number of Sworn Officers, Civilian Employees and Total Personnel in the Los Angeles Police Department: 1997-2000
Graph 5-5 Percentage Decrease in Sworn and Total Officers in the Los Angeles Police Department: 1997-2000
Graph 5-7 Police Support Index, 1999
Graph 5-8 Police Support Index for Large Cities in California, 1999

Table 5-1 has two sections. The first section shows Police expenditures per capita for each of four areas of the City of Los Angeles (The Los Angeles Police Department divides the city into these four areas: South, Central, West, and Valley) for FY 19971998, FY 1998-1999, FY 1999-2000, and FY 2000-2001. The second section shows the percentage change in Police expenditure per capita for each of the 4 sections of the City of Los Angeles between FY 1997-1998 and FY 1998-1999, FY 1998-1999 and FY 19992000, FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-2001, and FY 1997-1998 and FY 2000-2001.

Two factors are particularly noteworthy here. First, Police expenditure per capita actually decreases in each section of the City of Los Angeles over the period shown in the table. Second, in every year, Police expenditure per capita was highest in the South area and lowest in the Valley area.

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Graph 5-1 shows in graphic form the Police expenditure per capita for each of the four areas of the City of Los Angeles (South, Central, West, and Valley) for FY 1997-1998, FY 1998-1999, FY 1999-2000, and FY 2000-2001.

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Table 5-2 has two sections. The first section shows Police expenditures per square mile for each of the four areas of the City of Los Angeles (The Los Angeles Police Department divides the city into these four areas: South, Central, West, and Valley) for FY 1997-1998, FY 1998-1999, FY 1999-2000, and FY 2000-2001. The second section shows the percentage change in Police expenditure per square mile for each of the four areas of the City of Los Angeles between FY 1997-1998 and FY 1998-1999, FY 19981999 and FY 1999-2000, FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-2001, and FY 1997-1998 and FY 2000-2001.

On a Police expenditure per square mile basis there is a substantial gap between the South and Central sections and the West and Valley sections of the City of Los Angeles. The Police expenditure per square mile for the Valley is also substantially lower than similar expenditure for the West section.

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Graph 5-2 shows the data for Table 5-2, Police expenditure per square mile for FY 199798, FY 1998-99, FY 1999-00, and FY 2000-01 for each of the four areas of the city in graphic form.

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Table 5-3 has two sections. The first section shows Police expenditures per road mile for each of four sections of the City of Los Angeles (The Los Angeles Police Department divides the city into these four sections: South, Central, West, and Valley) for FY 19971998, FY 1998-1999, FY 1999-2000, and FY 2000-2001. It also shows the percentage change in Police expenditure per road mile for each of the 4 sections of the City of Los Angeles between FY 1997-1998 and FY 1998-1999, FY 1998-1999 and FY 1999-2000, FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-2001, and FY 1997-1998 and FY 2000-2001.

The data appears to indicate that the method used for calculating road miles changed in FY 2000-2001. Citywide the number for total road miles increased from 6,482 to 8,560. Despite the change in the Los Angeles Police Department's data set, the relative police expenditure per road mile remains essentially the same; the South and Central sections received relatively more, followed by the West and the Valley.

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Graph 5-3 shows the data from table 5-3, police expenditure per road mile, for each of the four sections of the City of Los Angeles in graphic form.

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Table 5-4 shows the total number of personnel, along with the number of civilian employees and sworn police officers for each year, in the Los Angeles Police Department for FY 1997-1998, FY 1998-1999, FY 1999-2000, and FY 2000-2001. The number of sworn officers decreased from 9,720 in 1997 to 9,168 in 2000.

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Graph 5-4 shows the data from Table 5-4 (total personnel, sworn officers, and civilian employees for 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000) in graphic form.

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Table 5-5 shows the percentage change decrease in total employees and the percent change in sworn officers for the City of Los Angeles between FY 1997-1998 and FY 1998-1999, FY 1998-1999 and FY 1999-2000, FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-2001, and FY 1997-1998 and FY 2000-2001. In every year shown, there was a larger decrease in the number of sworn officers than in the percentage decrease in the total number of employees.

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Graph 5-5 shows the data from table 5-5, percentage decrease in sworn and total employees in graphic form.

It is important to note that for the years examined there was a relative decrease in the number of sworn officers as well as total personnel, culminating in an overall decrease of 5.68% from FY 1997-1998 to FY 2000-2001.

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Table 5-6 shows two data sets for each of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County. The middle column "Violent Crimes per 1000 residents" shows the violent crimes rate per 1,000 residents in 1999. The right-hand column, "Police Expenditure per Capita" shows the Police Expenditures per capita for FY 1998-99. The cities are listed in rank order by police expenditures per capita. Los Angeles.

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Table 5-7 has two columns. The first column has city names. The second column, "Ratio PE/Cap vs. VC/1,000 Residents" is calculated for each city by dividing police expenditures per capita by the "1999 Violent Crimes per 1,000 Residents" value. This ratio which is hereinafter referred to as the "Police Support Index," gives a relative measure of police expenditures against the violent crime rate for each city. The cities are listed in rank order by the Police Support Index.

For example, El Segundo, the first city, has a police expenditure per capita of $735.78. When this police expenditure per capita is divided by the violent crime rate per 1,000 residents, the result is Police Support Index of 350.27. The Police Support Index number affords a convenient way of measuring an individual city's police expenditures relative to that particular city's violent crime rate. The City of Los Angeles has relatively high police expenditure per capita ($365.56), but it also has a relatively high violent crime rate per 1,000 residents (12.39). Consequently, the Police Support Index number for the City of Los Angeles is a comparatively low 29.51, or just slightly above Police Support Index number for West Hollywood (29.34) and slightly below the Police Support Index number for Rolling Hills (30.54).

Burbank (83.16), Glendale (68.48), Pasadena (49.47) and San Fernando (42.26) all have a much higher Police Support Index than the City of Los Angeles (29.51). As noted in the previous paragraph, the City of West Hollywood has a slightly lower Police Support Index (29.34) than the City of Los Angeles.

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Graph 5-7 shows the Police Support Index number for the selected cities of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, San Fernando, Long Beach, Los Angeles and West Hollywood. The higher the Police Support Index, the greater the amount of police resources is relative to the violent crime rate. So, a higher Police Support Index number indicates a higher level of Police service.

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Table 5-8 shows the "Police Support Index" (right hand column) for selected large cities in California. A high value in the Police Support Index indicates a greater allotment of police resources relative to the violent crime rate. Thus, a higher Police Support Index indicates a higher level of service. The cities are rank ordered by Police Support Index values, with the City of Los Angeles second lowest, only above Oakland.

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Graph 5-8 shows the Police Support Index for selected large cities in California. A higher the Police Support Index indicates a higher level of police resources relative to the violent crime rate. The City of Los Angeles has the second lowest police support index.

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-End of report

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