Statement from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on racial disparities in searches:
“This report is both important and timely. I am committed to helping the LAPD make forward
progress on issues of race and community relations — and bring about more reflective and
impactful interactions between officers and the people they protect and serve.
The LAPD Inspector General is looking at the issue of vehicle stops, and we look forward to
seeing those findings and recommendations soon — but we’re not waiting for reports to move
forward. As Mayor, we’ve led the LAPD to become the biggest department in America to put
body cameras on every patrol officer, to train all officers in understanding and dealing with
implicit bias, and to create new policies and training to deescalate potentially violent encounters
before resorting to deadly force. We’ve expanded the Community Safety Partnership to deepen
relationship-building, so we can keep breaking down barriers between officers and Angelenos in
communities where injustice and discrimination have touched the lives of people of color — and
started specific recruitment campaigns to embrace and expand diversity in our department. We
also have grown the area served by intervention and prevention programs citywide through my
Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development, because we know that strengthening the
relationship between city government and communities requires more than improvements in
policing.
I look forward to our Police Commission and department leaders using this information to
improve best practices, and I expect the department to work consciously and even-handedly to
earn the trust of every Angeleno, every day, with every interaction.”