Sheriff, Others Urge Support of Half-cent Sales Tax Increase

Saying the lives of "10 million people are in the hands of 22,500 cops in Los Angeles County," Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement officials last Friday gathered to urge voter support for a half-cent sales tax increase that would put 5,000 additional officers on the streets.

At a press conference at Eagle Rock High School, across the street from the scene of a gang-related shooting earlier this year, Baca, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton and Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said the sales tax increase, Measure A on the Nov. 2 ballot, would allow all law enforcement agencies in the county to add officers and expand operations.

If approved on a two-thirds vote, the measure would raise $560 million per year that would be used to bolster police presence and fund upgrades in interagency communications. Additional money would be funneled to Sheriff's Department custody operations and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

"...Every dollar of this is going to the front line of law enforcement," Adams said.

The measure, endorsed by a La Cañada Flintridge city councilman, would provide about half of the funding for Adams' plan to increase the size of the Glendale Police Department by 40 percent in the next seven years. Additionally, Measure A would give La Cañada an additional $1.39 million to spend on Sheriff's Department services and allow the Los Angeles Police Department to double its number of senior lead officers within a year, Bratton said. Unincorporated county areas would divvy up a $44.9 million annual allotment.

Los Angeles County is home to over 1,000 homicides, 2,500 forcible rapes and 60,000 burglaries each year. Officer-resident ratios in the county lag behind most major U.S. cities, Baca said, and law enforcement agencies in the county are unable to reduce crime the way they would like with the current levels of staffing and funding.

"Twenty-two thousand five hundred cops are not enough," Baca said.

Due to budget cuts, the LASD now has about 1,000 fewer deputies and the LAPD 150 fewer officers than last year.

Speaking to reporters, Baca said the increase would cost most people less than 25 cents a day. "Twenty cents a day is a little pain for a lot of gain," he said.