Lack of proactive prevention leads to gang-related murder in LA City park

When public safety in our City parks consists of just responding to calls and takes no proactive, preventive ownership, then violence and bloodshed will be a growing common occurrence.

Proactive ownership via community-based policing is what LA City Park Rangers used to do. The Mayor, along with SEIU and City Controller Wendy Greuel have made it their mission to eradicate City Park Rangers in favor of the Office of Public Safety - a second police force created by Greuel in the name of "efficiency" that, like LAPD for the most part, also simply answers radio calls.

Actually, OPS answer calls IF any of their units are even available.


As long as there continues to be no Park Ranger presence, yesterday's multiple murder is just another day in a Los Angeles City park.

Get used to it, folks.
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Two killed, one injured in shooting at Venice park

Police say they believe Wednesday afternoon's fatal shooting at Venice's Penmar Recreation Center was gang-related.

Los Angeles Police detectives, standing near a shooting victim, investigate the attack at Penmar Recreation Center in Venice. Two people were killed and another was injured in the shooting. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2011)

By Robert J. Lopez and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

June 23, 2011

A gunman calmly shot three people, two of them fatally, as a woman fled with a small child in her arms and others scrambled for safety Wednesday afternoon at a Venice park, according to police and an eyewitness.

The shooting forced authorities to lock down a recreation center filled with small children at Penmar park, which sits in a quiet neighborhood lined with single-family homes and shady trees in the 1300 block of East Lake Street.

"I heard popping sounds," the witness told The Times, "and I saw a guy standing and shooting a gun."

The witness said the attacker jumped into a car, perhaps a silver Volkswagen station wagon, in which a driver was waiting and fled.

A baseball coach gave CPR to a victim sprawled on the grass between the recreation center and a baseball diamond, the witness said. A second bystander administered CPR to a man lying in the bleachers.

The children in the recreation center, the oldest of whom were in third grade, were reunited with their parents at the center, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Jeff Bert.

Bert said investigators believe the shooting was gang-related. Officers found several shell casings in the area.

The third victim, police said, was shot in the leg and was being treated at a hospital. The two dead men were believed to be between 18 and 20 years old, police said.

One of the victims was pronounced dead at the park. The other died at a nearby hospital.

robert.lopez@latimes.com
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

Auto break-ins on the rise in Griffith Park

While the City decreases patrols in the park citing budgetary reasons, thieves are taking advantage of this and car break-ins are on the rise.

Last Saturday, 6 different autos were hit with 'smash and grabs' all before 10 am. Some of the parking lots hit include the Marry Go Round lots and others along Zoo Drive.

Park rangers begin patrol at 10am and go off duty at 8pm. When park rangers are not on patrol, the agency solely responsible for patrolling in City parks is the Office of Public Safety.

When parking in Griffith Park, it probably goes without saying that you should take all valuables with you and not leave them in your vehicle. Also, never leave anything of value in plain sight. Finally, if you are victimized, make certain you report the break-in to both the park rangers and the Office of Public Safety so that it is appropriately recognized in both departments, and then investigated.

Unless public pressure comes to bear, more decreases in patrols are in the works.  Stay safe.

Guess who is running the park rangers*?

Go on, guess.

No, last I heard Chief Al Torres - a popular 30 veteran - is warming a desk somewhere where the phone never rings. Good stuff.

Guess again.

(bzzzzz) - wrong! It's the GSA Office of Public Safety gang! Our park rangers don't have a chief, and GSA OPS has kindly lent one of their own to play Chief. Isn't that convenient? Between some OPS lieutenant and beloved AGM Kevin Regan, Wrecks and Parks got it all covered even though what they're up to is, er... illegal. Yeah, illegal. But hey - it's Los Angeles! The law doesn't apply here. ("Li'bility? We don't care about no stinkin' li'bility....")

Bet all those community folks and folkettes who fought so hard to save park rangers are loving that GSA OPS is running their rangers now. Bet they love the idea that half the ranger staff are doing just interpretive tree-hugging stuff now too. Yet they get paid the same as the smokies doing all of the job!

I'd just love that, too. Where do I sign up?

I'm sure we all noticed how great Ranger service has been since Nov. 8th. After all, GSA OPS provides great service, don't they? Plus, they're just so darned efficient! Now that IS park progress for the people. Yee haw!

Well, kewl. Mebe with the new leadership we can finally get some of this wicked action in Griffith now too.




*facetiousness red-alert - you were warned.

editorial: Plain talk on LA's Park Rangers

From OurLA.org:

It is about time that the Department of Recreation and Parks define what the Park Rangers should do - but more importantly it is also time for Recreation and Parks to listen to the park users who are in the parks every day.  The need for public services should drive the the focus of the Ranger Division - not politics.

What the people have said, over and over again is that they want Rangers to continue to be jacks of all trades, with the emphasis on park safety. They want them to continue fighting fires and searching for lost persons, doing the "quality of life" law enforcement, helping visitors with directions, information and other assistance, managing park resources and providing interpretive services, but as time permits.

There is healthy discussion within the Ranger Division as to what the role should be, especially considering that the Rangers do everything from A to Z in the parks. Those who know about the Ranger profession know that this has always been an ongoing debate not only in the City of LA but in the State Park Rangers, National Park Service and other agencies.

The need for public services should drive the the focus of the Ranger Division - not politics.

In general there is agreement in the ranks of the City Rangers that Rangers should remain generalists - performing public assistance, fire and rescue work, park management, interpretive and some level of law enforcement. Over the years and to date LAPD has done a sorry job of making the parks safe - they have too much on their plate to focus on the parks on a regular, consistent basis. The Office of Public Safety serves too many masters and has never taken ownership of the park problems in any meaningful way. In addition the entrenched lack of responsiveness and lack of a public service ethic in the OPS organization really gets in the way of providing the same level of service formerly provided by rangers. Both agencies seem unable to detect trends and respond appropriately, and seem to dismiss the "quality of life" problems while constantly searching for that big arrest.

This is not the first time that this issue has come up - there have been at least three prior attempts to relieve Rangers of their security duties. At one point the duties were turned over to security officers then LAPD, twice. All three failed miserably  (where are the 100 LAPD officers who were assigned directly to the parks in the late 1980s?)  Each time the bulk of law enforcement responsibility returned to the Rangers.

So what is the answer? In this time of fiscal crises, the Rangers should remain generalists, if only as a cost saving/efficiency matter. Although interpretive services are a core Ranger duty, direct visitor services and public safety need to be the priority. A volunteer/interpretive program would go a long way towards being able to expand the interpretive program at low cost.

The proposed transfer of half the field Rangers to a newly created interpretive unit is irresponsible considering that this action will result in no Rangers on duty at times, and no or limited Ranger staff available to respond to fires, medical calls, rescues, visitor assistance, etc.

....did anyone from Recreation and Parks ask the Fire Department if they were OK with no Park Rangers on duty?

This proposal seems to be poorly thought out. Since Rangers are an integral part of the delivery of public safety services in the parks, did anyone from Recreation and Parks ask the Fire Department if they were OK with no Rangers on duty? Did anyone think about the impact of this proposal on the mutual aid agreement with LAFD for Ranger-staffed fire fighting equipment? Did anyone cosult with OPS and ask if they were ready to take on the miriad of visitor assistance calls (directions, park information, battery jumps, lockouts etc) when no Rangers are on duty?

Unfortunately there is plenty of law enforcement work to go around and any reasonable person would agree that the heavy-duty stuff should be handled by LAPD or GSD - but, there is no indication that either of these agencies is willing or able to step up to the plate.

Longtime Park Employee

Lance Armstrong's Tour de Griffith

All Lance Armstrong had to do was tweet that he was going for a little bike ride in Griffith Park this morning, and 500 people showed up to go with him.

No sign of Mr. "Tour LaBonge", either.  About time Tom's staff gets up to date with that Twitter thang.

Notice the overweig...um, ....over-bearing Office of Public Safety officer trying to act tough in this video. OPS's instinct consistently seems to be obstructive rather than proactive - completely against how the energy of a parks department should feel to the people it serves.

Hey! Armstrong taking a little ride in Griffith is FUN, Officer Whateveryournameis.  Lighten up! And go do some real damn work for a change!

Meanwhile, this afterthought from Lance's Twitter page:

Great ride in Griffith Park. Thanks, LA! And thanks to the LAPD for the help. Off to Montreal. . .                                                about 1 hour ago from UberTwitter

Oh
Hell
Yes!
Lance Armstrong thinks he was talking to LAPD!

LAPD probably doesn't mind the vicarious publicity, but we know for damn sure they don't want to be mistaken for an agency that is commanded by people who LAPD would never hire for a variety of reasons. (we'll elaborate on that another time.)


Here's a link to the LA Times article with a much nicer picture...

City Parks Suffer Dangerous Budget Cut

The Daily News today reported that a result of the Mayor’s all-out assault on Los Angelenos in the form of budget cuts and fee increases will result in serious losses of vital services in City parks. The paper points to two Rec and Parks losses in particular – less clean restrooms and a 50% cut in Park Rangers.

Most people jump right on the mental image of an unclean restroom, but the reality of this Citywide cut is that the far greater loss of the two is actually the Park Rangers.

Park Rangers are perhaps the most recognizable image of any parks service in the United States. However, LA City Park Rangers are far more than an icon. With the increased gang violence and general unrest throughout the City, more specialized park security is a must. L.A. City Park Rangers are fully qualified, POST-certified peace officers. Perhaps even more importantly, Park Rangers are also firefighters, search and rescue professionals, emergency management specialists, paramedics, wildlife specialists, educators, mediators, and community policing specialists. For those who are unhappy with the generous salaries some City employees pull down, Park Rangers are also underpaid relative to other City jobs requiring full peace officer standing. This, plus the fact that there are tons of open peace officer positions in this City, just about guarantees that being a Park Ranger in Los Angeles isn't just a job, but it must be a vocation.

On any given day in at least one of this City’s 400+ parks, Rangers put their unique combination of specialized skills to use on the public’s behalf. During the Griffith Park fire, every Park Ranger in the City demonstrated extreme dedication to their vocation by working more than 95 hours straight. The Rangers’ intimate knowledge of the park was absolutely vital to controlling the May 8, 2007 inferno. It isn’t discussed much in the wake of the usual, well-deserved accolades given to the LAFD, but those closest to the situation know that it was a heroic stand at Bee Rock by Park Ranger firefighters that halted the northeastward advance of that fire. Park Ranger firefighters used their intimate knowledge of the park to determine that this physical location was absolutely key to stopping the fire, and they made the stand that did it.

So here we are with a summer fire season widely predicted to be one of the worst on record nearly upon us. Cutting almost 50% of a single division that is as important to this City as the Park Rangers are not only makes no sense, but it may seriously endanger the lives of the 20 million people who visit Los Angeles parks annually.

The recent mauling of patrons by a Siberian Tiger at the San Francisco Zoo brings up another point. The Los Angeles Zoo is inside of Griffith Park, and the Zoo is far from impervious to animal escapes. The combination of emergency management and wildlife expertise that Park Rangers possess would make them invaluable if such a thing ever happened here. As an aside, it is interesting to note that current SF Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo, under whose watch the horrific maulings occurred, was a past General Manager of Recreation and Parks in Los Angeles as well as a Director of the Los Angeles Zoo during a time that many of the exhibit enclosures were upgraded, ostensibly to code. Hmmm...


Since they have all the money and resources, I guess the Mayor is assuming the Office of Public Safety will take care of us all. But as was pointed out in an earlier article detailing the creation and performance to-date of OPS, their promise was enticing but their carry-through has been far from optimum, or even adequate for that matter. And Rec and Parks, who is legally mandated to provide security in City parks, has little to no control over OPS which is organized within an entirely different City department.

On May 1st, there will be massive immigration demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles. If they repeat what they did in 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Office of Public Safety will pull every single officer to a man from City parks, libraries, and the Zoo and deploy them all downtown. This means that on May Day, a traditional day to celebrate the coming of Spring, the only peace officers protecting the public in 400+ City parks will be Park Rangers. 50% less Park Rangers, that is, if no one challenges the Mayor’s budget.

It's ironic that also on May 1st, the City's Budget and Finance Committee will hold the hearing on the Mayor's Budget for the Department of Recreation and Parks. So y'all come on downtown May 1 -- skip work, see the protesters and OPS in action firsthand, and give the committee your input on the $cut$ to Rec and Parks while surrounded by a hundred thousand or so of your fellow Angelenos.