Recent "smash and grab" robberies and high-profile violent crimes have heightened many people's concerns over public safety in Los Angeles. While trends vary across communities, Downtown has serious and distinct public safety challenges compared with other parts of the city, calling for a public safety approach that applies proactive, proven solutions to account for our dynamic mix of uses and attractions.
Last year, Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division which includes the majority of DTLA, reported that burglaries were up by 47%, car thefts by 100% and homicides by 47% compared with 2019 data.1 In 2020, as many as 13,000 calls for mental health support came through to emergency responders across the city, with many of these calls coming from DTLA.
Meeting DTLA's public safety needs is vital. Downtown is the only community that has the combined privilege of being the region's job center, mobility hub, cultural and entertainment destination, heart of civic life -- and most importantly, is home to a diverse residential community.
DTLA's 80,000 residents value urban living, walkability and the public realm. Our residential community will continue to grow with about 5,000 new housing units under construction and over 30,000 more units in the pipeline.2 Continuing to densify housing supply in downtown areas is key to addressing our region's housing crisis and broader climate crisis, as recognized in Governor Newsom’s budget proposal. DTLA has been a national leader in new housing creation, but our city center's future as a residential community cannot be sustained without reliable public safety.
We also can't ignore how challenging the last few years of pandemic life have been for our neighborhoods as many businesses have closed and the approximate 300,000 workers that help activate our streets and support businesses have not all yet returned to in-person work. Boarded businesses and emptier public spaces mean we are missing the usual "eyes on the street" which impacts both perceived and real safety.
As in years past, CCA will be engaged with the City's budget for fiscal year 2022-2023. Our priority will be bringing proactive, proven public safety resources to Downtown to support safety and wellness in the community. We will be advocating for the restoration of DTLA bicycle patrol, an increase in foot beat officers in Downtown and the creation of an unarmed service response program that operates around-the-clock in DTLA, similar to Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS program and the City of Los Angeles' CIRCLE pilot program.
DTLA needs a public safety approach with police officers that are part of the community's fabric and accountable to residents, workers and business owners. This means we must recognize that officers cannot fulfill all our community's social responsibilities. Instead, we must meet the rise in serious mental health illness with a more effective response -- trained, unarmed health professionals and peer outreach workers.
As the leading visionary of Downtown, CCA will work closely with residents and community stakeholders to advocate for public safety resources that meet our city center's distinct needs. With strong partnerships across our CCA membership, the DTLA community and our elected officials, we can help Downtown become a safer, healthier place for everyone.
1 Central Area COMPSTAT Profile 12.4.21 - 12.31.21
2 DCBID Market Report, Third Quarter 2021