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SAFE AND SECURE - Over the past year, I’ve completed five ride-alongs with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), including patrols in the San Fernando Valley. I don’t show up to campaign. I show up to listen, observe, and understand what our LAPD officers and our neighborhoods are up against. If I’m elected to City Council, public safety won’t just be a campaign talking point; it will be my top priority.
Because right now, too many Los Angeles families and businesses do not feel safe in their own communities. Violent crime, gang activity, rampant retail theft, and homelessness tied to addiction and untreated mental illness have become daily realities. Response times are too slow. Break-ins go unanswered. And public spaces, our parks, schools, and sidewalks, are not being protected the way Angelenos deserve, and the City has stopped enforcing its own rules.
Los Angeles must reaffirm a simple principle: public safety is non-negotiable.
What I Saw With LAPD
After spending hours in patrol cars and responding to real calls, several things have become painfully clear. Our mental health system is broken. Officers repeatedly encounter people in crisis who are dropped off at hospitals — only to be released within hours because medical staff are not equipped to treat severe mental illness. These individuals end up back on the streets, still sick and still vulnerable. A significant portion of those living on the streets aren’t from here. People come to California for treatment, lose placement when programs fail, and are stranded — homeless, addicted, and with no path home. This isn’t compassion. It’s neglect disguised as tolerance.
Officers feel under a microscope. They tell me they feel less supported in Los Angeles than in neighboring cities like Beverly Hills or Culver City. Younger officers are leaving, or choosing not to join the LAPD at all, because City Hall has created a culture of distrust rather than one that values and respects the people sworn to protect us. We don’t have enough police cars, and many are in disrepair. During one ride-along, the patrol vehicle had a “check engine” light that had been on for days. There are not enough operational vehicles to meet the force’s needs. That is unacceptable.
Gang violence is active and escalating. Warring gangs continue to terrorize neighborhoods, and families know the sound of gunfire far too well. Quality-of-life enforcement has become nearly impossible. When a sidewalk encampment blocks a business or threatens a family’s safety, officers often have few tools and even fewer resources to take action. The process is slow and bureaucratic, and it frequently leads nowhere.
One message I hear again and again: the job has changed, and not for the better. Instead of being empowered to stop crime and maintain order, officers feel they’re being managed by fear — fear of retaliation, fear of discipline for honest mistakes, fear of being publicly vilified for doing their jobs. That’s not how you build a functional police department. That’s how you drive good officers away.
What We Need to Do
We don’t have to accept rising disorder as the new normal. We can choose a safer future, one that protects both public safety and civil liberties. Here’s where we start:
- Hire and retain a fully staffed, well-trained force. Los Angeles has hundreds of officers below what our neighborhoods require. The West Valley deserves its fair share of police resources — not leftovers redistributed from Downtown.
- Modernize equipment and vehicles. We should not be asking officers to protect a major American city with outdated technology and cars that can’t pass a basic inspection.
- Embrace smart, responsible innovation. Technology that reduces paperwork and accelerates response times gets more officers back on our streets instead of stuck behind a desk.
- Strengthen mental health interventions and treatment options. Hospitals shouldn’t be revolving doors for people in crisis. We need facilities designed to treat — not just temporarily contain — those who need help.
- Restore accountability and consequences for violent crime and repeat offenders. Compassion is essential, but genuine compassion also demands boundaries, expectations, and a safe community for everyone.
Los Angeles has always been a place where people come to build their dreams. But families can’t thrive, and businesses can’t grow if they don’t feel safe. Los Angeles deserves clean parks, secure storefronts, and the confidence that when you call 911, help will arrive quickly. We can restore law and order. We can return dignity to our streets. And we can give our officers the tools and respect they need to do one of the most important jobs there is.
If we put public safety first, Los Angeles can once again become the city we know it can be strong, safe, and full of opportunity.
(Tim Gaspar is a Businessman and Candidate for L.A. City Council - West Valley)
