Public safety is certainly a concern for business, particularly now with the state’s prison problem, the education issues facing the Los Angeles Unified School District, the budget constraints on our park system and a recovering economy that has been beneficial to the classes but not the masses.   

Men, women and children from every neighborhood need to be surrounded by jobs, programs in our parks/libraries/schools, improved public education opportunities and healthy choices. Experience certainly has shown that being surrounded by those is far better than the alternative of being surrounded by the four walls of a prison cell.

I have a poster from the Smithsonian Institution hanging on the wall of my Los Angeles Police Department Commission office that says: “Are YOU Doing All YOU Can?”

I ask that question of myself, of each of the 13,000 uniformed and civilian employees of the LAPD, every corporation, every business, every foundation, every house of prayer and every resident of Los Angeles: Are YOU Doing All YOU Can?

Because if you do, those heading to gangs will find better paths to follow.

If you do, those businesses contemplating locating in Los Angeles will make the move, creating jobs by the thousands.

If you do, our parks, libraries and schools will thrive.

If you do, those who need help will get it.

And, if you do, your LAPD will be, for generations to come, well run from top to bottom, be as diverse as the community that it serves as well as be a source of great pride for us all and have a positive impact on small and large business alike.

During the last decade, as a result of the dedication and hard work of a number of people from Washington to Los Angeles, the badge of the LAPD has been polished to be the finest in the nation. Large and small police departments from all over the world, looking at best practices to improve their own departments, call and visit the LAPD every week.

From K-9 to SWAT, from the Equestrian Mounted Patrol to the Cadets program, we are admired. Our Police Academy goes “above and beyond” in so many ways, it is acclaimed worldwide. Your LAPD has been released from the federal consent decree that was imposed in 2000 in the wake of a corruption scandal and now is a reformed group that has brought its motto, “To protect and to serve,” to a new level.

Sounds like a fine last chapter, but it is really the just the beginning of a new book. It is imperative not to rest on past reform accomplishments. The release from the consent decree states that what remains to be seen is how the LAPD will continue to reform, especially when a new mayor and new commission come into play.

It says: “The question is: Will the institutions of Los Angeles, under new management, be able to protect and enhance the reforms that have been achieved?” And I believe that to be only half the question. We also need to look deep at how to be better.

Enormous stakes

Today is the beginning of a critical time period where we have to continue to make serious improvements in order to positively answer that question. The stakes are enormous. They touch us all.

The community policing model embraced by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck needs to be supported, expanded, technologically improved and celebrated by this department and every single business in this great city.

For example, we need the technology of in-car cameras, complemented or supplemented by lapel/on-body cameras soon. I mean within 18 months, not 18 years!

To quote from the Consent Decree Final Report, “This initiative is critical and will protect against biased policing while enhancing officer safety and risk management analysis, and mitigating liability claims.” It will save tens of millions of dollars in court cases, thousands of man hours in both the LAPD and City Attorney’s Office, and serve to further cut crime as “he said, she said” arguments will be a thing of the past.

This commission, supported by this mayor, this chief, this department, this City Council, this L.A. Police Protective League, this community of organized labor, this Police Foundation and you, stands ready to do its job to help the Los Angeles Police Department protect and serve.

As we start on this mission, I ask, “Are YOU Doing All YOU Can?” 

Steve Soboroff is president of the Los Angeles Police Commission. Long active in civic affairs, he also is chairman of the Weingart Foundation. He is the former chairman and chief executive of Playa Vista.