A country's economic growth is directly impacted by its level of security
Specifically, before putting their business plan into action, the majority of investors consider the level of security in a country. This is the main justification for why most countries—both developed and developing—are determined to put the necessary security measures in place, such as screening technologies, enough law enforcement, surveillance cameras, and in some counties, sheriffs to support law and order. The study of the Los Angeles Police Department's organizational structure, leadership, routine operational areas, unique program areas, and crime data receives significant attention in this paper. Organizational structure of Los Angeles Police Department in terms of the department`s organizational structure, leadership, standard operational areas, special program areas and crime statistics.
Organizational structure of Los Angeles Police Department
The organizational structure of the Los Angeles police department is composed of the board of police commissioner, the inspector general, the chief of police, the heads of police in every town and the police officers at the junior level. The inspector general and the chief of police are appointed by the board of police commissioners (Los Angeles Police Commission, 2015). The Chief of police appoints the heads of police officers in the local towns and monitors the various operations that are undertaken by the police officers.
Los Angeles Demographics
Los Angeles is a diverse city and a home of different individuals both local and the immigrants who speak almost 224 languages (The World Population review, 2017). During the 2010 Census, Los Angeles had a total of 3,792,621 individuals and this figure increased to 3, 971, 883 during the 2015, and this amounts to 4.7 percent population increase (The World Population review, 2017). Based on the 2010 Census, the racial composition of the city showed that the majority of the residents were whites (49.8 percent), Hispanic (48.5 percent), African Americans (9.6 percent), Asian (11.3 percent) and other races (11.3 percent) (The World Population review, 2017).
Crime statistics
For the last three years, the levels of violent crime in Los Angeles have been on the increase and this has been contributed to gang-related shootings and homicides. This year alone, approximately 290 people have been killed, and though this figure is low compared to the previous years where approximately 480 individuals are recorded within the first quarter of the year, the figure is considerably high (Lau & Chang, 2016). According to the statistics from the Los Angeles Police Department, homicides accounted for 5 percent deaths, aggravated assaults has increased by 10 percent, robberies have increased by 13 percent and the rape cases have dropped by 4 percent. One of the shocking details concerning the crime levels in Los Angeles is the rise of homicides for the third consecutive year, despite the number of individuals killed being lower than the previous decade. Moreover, similar trends were also observed concerning the increase of property crimes by 4 percent (Lau & Chang, 2016).
Additionally, the crime levels have increased in areas which were initially considered as safe
For example, the Topanga police division, which was initially recording lower levels of criminal cases, had approximately 21 percent increase of motor vehicle theft and 41 percent increase in robbery cases that had been reported (Lau & Chang, 2016). Consecutively, in West Los Angeles, motor vehicle theft cases were almost 31 percent while robberies had increased by 16 percent.
Standard operational areas
The Los Angeles police department conducts a number of operations in order to maintain law and order. The office of standard operation's primary office is situated in the new Police Administration Building. The assistance chief of operations, Michel Moore controls the office and reports the undertakings and achievements of this office to the chief of police (Lau & Chang, 2016). The office of operations is made up of 21 areas (also known as division or police stations). In addition, this office is also composed of the computer statistics and this division is responsible in holding regular meetings with senior police officers and the chief of police, as well as maintaining crime data. Consecutively, the 21 police divisions are geographically categorized into four main command areas which are not limited to the Valley Bureau, South Bureau, West Bureau and the Central Bureau.
Special program areas in LAPD
The LAPD implements special programs of combating crimes in areas that are declared to be insecure. For example, in this year, the LAPD sent additional platoons of elite Metropolitan Division officers to South Los Angeles in order to mitigate the increased shootings gang shootings and homicides. In the south Bureau, which includes the San Pedro are as well as the South Los Angeles had recorded 6 percent increase of rape cases, 19 percent increase of assaults, 10 percent increase of robberies and 6 percent increase of homicides (Lau & Chang, 2016). In addition, surveillance cameras coupled by the deployment of more numbers of police officers have been implemented in areas with high concentration of individuals such as political rallies and shopping malls in order to lift the state of security. Subsequently, the level of criminal activities in the LAPD's Central Bureau, which includes skid row, Downtown and Chinatown has decrease by almost 5 percent this last year, and this is attributed to inroads that have been made by social workers and law enforcers in the homeless camps.
References
Lau M & Chang C., (2016). Violent crime in L.A. jumps for third straight year as police deal with gang, homeless issues. Retrieved from, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-crime-stats-20161227-story.html
Los Angeles Police Commission, (2015). Organization and Structure of the Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved from, https://www.oig.lacity.org/organization-structure-of-the-lapd
The World Population review, (2017). Los Angeles Population 2017. Retrieved from, http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/los-angeles-population/
