Police are nearly doubling the number of detectives devoted to homicide cases across the most violent swatches of South Los Angeles, reports the city’s Times. The plan is part of a larger effort to address the hundreds of unsolved homicides in the city’s most violent area. In addition to adding detectives, it calls for improving treatment and protection of victims and witnesses and launching a new campaign to encourage the public to cooperate with investigators.
Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger said the addition of detectives “is an investment this organization must make in the future.” Homicide detectives in South Los Angeles have long had the highest caseloads in the city and produced some of the lowest rates of solved killings. The result for years has been that murderers have been more likely to get away with their crimes in South L.A. than in wealthier, safer parts of the city. By expanding the ranks of homicide detectives and reducing high caseloads, Paysinger said, he hopes to ensure that South Los Angeles killings get more police attention.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-detectives30dec30,0,5113061.story?coll=la-home-headlines