'We should not panic...'
The Los Angeles Police Department's Assistant Chief Earl C. Paysinger held a press conference June 9 to respond to the recent spike in homicides. The number of homicides that occurred last weekend -- 10 in LAPD jurisdictions alone -- was "a spike," he said, but that, "This is a spike we periodically see in this city."
Paysinger was right. Homicide Report examined the reported homicides during previous weekends this year and found similar numbers at least twice before. Although the recent total homicides was significant -- 15 in various jurisdictions -- there have been other weekends where the numbers were not much lower.
From March 29 to February 2, there were 11 homicides in LAPD's jurisdiction, so far the highest reported for a weekend this year. The second highest was last weekend; the third highest was the weekend of February 8-10.
The number of homicides countywide last weekend was the highest for a single weekend this year.
On average about 10 homicides will occur throughout L.A. County on a weekend. LAPD's area will average three to six homicides on such weekends.
The Report also discovered that Sundays generally have the highest number of reported homicides. Many killings occur late Saturday night and are reported early Sunday.
The Monday after last week's killings, residents from South-Central and South Los Angeles communities -- where five of the slayings occurred -- responded to HR's postings of the homicides:
"You're shocked, but not too shocked," said Tiffany Williams, 25 of South-Central Los Angeles. "Nothing's going to happen, nothing is going to change."
"It's depressing," said Roy Walker, 51 of South Los Angeles. "I'm glad I didn't hear about the [homicides]," he said.
Another South LA resident, who goes by the name of Cheese, said simply, "This is LA..."
Is it?
Below is LAPD's statement and statistics on last weekend's homicides:
"The Los Angeles Police Department responds to the number of homicides that occurred over the past weekend. (10 total from Friday night June 6, 2008 through Monday morning at 8:00 a.m.)
On Monday, June 9, 2008 at 2:30 p.m, Los Angeles Police Department's Assistant Chief Earl C. Paysinger, Office of Operations addressed the number of homicides that occurred over the past weekend. The news conference was held at Parker Center-Main Entrance.
Over the weekend, a number of crimes have occurred throughout the city of Los Angeles resulting in 10 homicides, all from separate incidents. Several of the 10 homicides have been confirmed as being gang-related, but investigations are still ongoing and information provided today is preliminary.
On dealing with crime suppression efforts, Assistant Chief Paysinger stated, "as trends migrate and evolve throughout the city, we have an obligation to move resources to address crime … we should not panic" as this is a spike in crime that we see periodically within the city of Los Angeles. There have been no connections or trends developing that can be inferred as a result of this spike in the number of homicides. The last spike that we experienced similar to this weekend, occurred in January over a four-day period, where there were 11 homicides. It should be noted that homicides are down 32% compared to the same time period in 2002.
Arrests have been made for three of the homicides that occurred in North Hollywood, Foothill and Mission areas. The department is seeking the public's assistance in any leads or information regarding these homicides and is urged to contact the respective Area Detectives listed on News Releases or 1-977-LAW-FULL (529-3855).
The following is a breakdown of this weekend's homicides by bureau and weapon type:
WEAPON TYPE:
8 firearm
1 unknown object (victim was beaten)
1 knife
BUREAU
OSB: 3 (77TH , Southeast (2)
OVB: 4 (Mission, NHWD, Foothill (2)
OCB: 2 (Newton (2)
OWB: 1 (Hollywood)."
Our son, Dion Miles, Jr. was murdered on June 13, 2007. Pasayinger wrote us a letter regarding the murder and capture of our son's killer.
Our response to LAPD's statement is this:
One homicide is one too many and is unacceptable!
This is the United States of America, home of the free, land of the brave...we are entilted to walk freely through the streets and neighborhoods of our cities without fear...or are we now living like third world countries...where their is daily civil unrest and murderers living among us....where you can't walk down a street or through a neighborhood without fear of being shot and killed at any time of the day or night!
Where are the monies we pay for taxes being applied? Is the LAPD going to squash these gangs? If not, it's time for the Federal government whom we also pay taxes to step in and get it done and instead of discussing how many innocent citizens and civilians we may lose in strategics let's talk about how many gang members we can surely lose with a war on them!
It's come down to us against them and let's get rid of gangs....by any means necessary. The gangs have taken our right of freedom and we should not hesitate to take theirs....again...by any means necessary!
Dion & Robin Miles, Sr.
Sincerely,
Dion & Robin Miles, Sr.
Posted by: Dion & Robin Miles, Sr. | June 16, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Why would anyone panic? Crime spikes happen. It's Los Angeles in the summer and only 11 shootings...compare that to past few years in the summer...not doing too bad...it's not like we're getting a lot of these spikes.
Posted by: anthony | June 16, 2008 at 09:31 PM
IT SADDEN ME WHEN I HEAR SUCH STATISTIC THAT OUR COMMUNITY IS JUST ONE BIG "I DONT CARE". OUR CITIZENS ARE AFRAID OF THE WHAT IF AND OUR WHAT IFS HAS NOW TURN INTI IT'S NOT MY BUSINESS. WE TO START BECOMING INVOLVED IN OUR COMMUNITIE AND REPORTING CRIMES THAT WE KNOW ABOUT. TO THIOSE THAT HAVE LOST THEIR ONE I DO PRAY FOR STRENGTH AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO GO ON FORWARD IN LIFE
Posted by: KIM SMITH | June 18, 2008 at 01:45 AM
What is wrong with this country? There is such a fear of terrorism, yet the real threat comes from fellow American citizens. As a foreigner residing (legally) in this country - the violence you inflict upon each other astounds me. Why this violence in the richest nation on Earth?
Posted by: Unbelievable | June 20, 2008 at 08:10 AM
Hello,
My name is Cynthia, Im looking for and article back in 1994, a boy killed in a shooting in east los angeles, aliso village to be specific..if theres any way you can help me on that i will appreciated it..you can e-mail me at l
laflaka_323@hotmail.com.
Posted by: Cynthia | June 30, 2008 at 07:22 PM
I agree whole heartedly with the comments of Mr. Dion & Mrs. Robin Miles, dated June 16th, 2008. The only time the national guard or any other tactical unit is called into this city, is when a natural disaster occurs, such as this weekends fire, or flooding. Why? Because in the state of California, saving someones property is far more important that saving our young people lives here in South Central Los Angeles. They don't care about us or our children. This is all a part of the big plan..That we kill each other so they don't have to do it.(I'm sure just like the ku klux klan, they're thanking us profusely).... The LAPD's only comment when Antwan Cole was brutally gunned down, was "The murder didn't occur in the City of Los Angeles". Well, hell he lived in the "City of Los Angeles his entire life, he left the city to go right on 135th and main to work and then returned right back to the city... So because his misfortune happened a block or two outside your jurisdiction, you don't care...and yes I say you don't care, because I witnessed your "not our problem, I don't care attitude". The officials of our communities. Mayor, LAPD and the vast majority of personnels in all LEA's do not live or reside in our community and definitely don't care about it... My 16 year old daughter who weighs 100 lbs, was viciously and violently struck and knock down by a 50 y.o 250lb . black female who was classified as "schizophrenic" . My daughter scrambled to find her glasses and get to her feet. While scrambling to recover all her school work out the middle of the street, she tried flagging down a passing L. A. P. D. car, but it just past right by her as if she did not exist...The bottom line is that I as a parent was told that there was absolutely nothing I could do about this attack, and my point is that the perpetrators who commit these crimes, whether it be assualts or murders, have more rights and more protection than the victims that are victimized. They commit henious acts over & over repeatedly, knowing that, no one is coming after them and nothing is going to be done.
We're well aware that some of the weapons use to murder our children, have been used over & over & over & over again. and still NO ARREST...HOW SAD. What do our LEA training consist of. Are there any investigators trained to track down and arrest these criminals. If this is your job, and every case goes cold. How do you collect a check and go home and sleep at night, Or is it easy in your peaceful little communities?
Posted by: Elizabeth Taylor | July 06, 2008 at 05:41 PM