Speaker 1: This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
Speaker 1: AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app. Keeping any here out for what's
Speaker 1: going on in Washington and beyond. Told you Trump was
Speaker 1: meeting with a economic advisor from Japan with along with
Speaker 1: his economic team today in Washington. Chinese leader Shei Jimping
Speaker 1: is meeting with Southeast Asia leaders. He's told Malaysia's leader
Speaker 1: that China will be a collaborative partner and stand with
Speaker 1: its neighbors in the wake of the global economic shocks.
Speaker 1: He is on a state visit there to Malaysia as
Speaker 1: part of the Southeast Asia tour, so we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens there. Each trying to get more people on their
Speaker 1: own respective team, so to speak.
Speaker 2: There's a more activity when it comes to this issue
Speaker 2: of the migrants that have been sent to El Salvador.
Speaker 2: A federal judge says she's going to order sworn testimony
Speaker 2: to determine if Trump officials complied with her order to
Speaker 2: facilitate the return of the guy named Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Speaker 2: deported to this Elsalvador prison.
Speaker 3: Some people had said he should not have been deported.
Speaker 2: She said that they the judge said that the Trump
Speaker 2: administration defied a clear Supreme Court order. The other one
Speaker 2: in that case is the federal judge has found that
Speaker 2: probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt
Speaker 2: because he said of the wilful disregard of his verbal
Speaker 2: order to turn those planes around and bring them back
Speaker 2: to the United States when that whole thing was happening well.
Speaker 1: On location production when it comes to film and TV
Speaker 1: production down twenty two point four percent compared with this
Speaker 1: period last year. Heather Burger from KFI News follows the
Speaker 1: entertainment industry for US and joins US now has found
Speaker 1: some answers about why we're seeing even further decline in
Speaker 1: action when it comes to Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: Hi, guys, so this is an ongoing problem that doesn't
Speaker 4: seem to be getting any better. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 4: this first three months of the year is some of
Speaker 4: the worst filming production days that we've had in Los
Speaker 4: Angeles in decades. There was about fifty two hundred shooting
Speaker 4: days recorded from Film La. Now Film LA if you
Speaker 4: don't know, it's a not for profit organization that works
Speaker 4: with the city and the county in LA to track
Speaker 4: data essentially for filming that happens in the county, so
Speaker 4: they have numbers backing up what they're saying. And when
Speaker 4: they say that it's declined twenty two percent, down to
Speaker 4: about fifty two hundred shoot days. Let me just give
Speaker 4: you a comparison. Back in twenty twenty one, we had
Speaker 4: a total number of shoot days of eighteen thousand, five hundred.
Speaker 5: And is this the first three months a year, just
Speaker 5: the first three.
Speaker 4: Months of the year, and television in particular was hit hardest.
Speaker 4: They lost thirty percent. They're down thirty percent in the
Speaker 4: number of shooting days. Basically. I spoke to film LA.
Speaker 4: I spoke to Philip Sokolowski at film LA, and he
Speaker 4: says that the biggest problem we're facing right now is
Speaker 4: our tax incentives. Film producers production companies are not getting
Speaker 4: enough money back for how much it costs them whenever
Speaker 4: they're putting together a show or a film or whatever,
Speaker 4: and they're going to other cities, they're going to other
Speaker 4: states and other countries and investing in the film production
Speaker 4: there because they're getting more of their money back.
Speaker 6: It's like that golden coupon.
Speaker 4: You know that you keep getting If you're going to
Speaker 4: go to the store that's going to give you more
Speaker 4: money back on your groceries, why would you keep going
Speaker 4: to the store that's not giving you the best discount.
Speaker 1: Well, I feel like we heard about this when a
Speaker 1: lot of production went to Georgia, a lot of production
Speaker 1: went to Canada, and then I remember vaguely a flurry
Speaker 1: of lawmakers, state and local saying, hey, we're going to
Speaker 1: bring production back to LA We're going to offer our
Speaker 1: own incentives.
Speaker 5: Yeah, what happened there.
Speaker 6: So it's still happening.
Speaker 4: It's sort of caught up in red tape as everything
Speaker 4: is so right now, California offers three hundred and thirty
Speaker 4: million dollar tax credit tax credits for film productions up
Speaker 4: to they can get three hundred and thirty million tax credit,
Speaker 4: So the current proposal is seven hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 4: But right now it's kind of it's being stuck because
Speaker 4: there are people who are saying, well, is it worth us?
Speaker 4: Is it worth it for us to give these giant
Speaker 4: tax credits to these productions. Are we getting enough back
Speaker 4: as a city and as a county to make up
Speaker 4: for these giant losses?
Speaker 6: Which is a valid question.
Speaker 4: You know, if you're giving every production a seven hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty million dollar tax break, are we getting that
Speaker 4: back as in La in La County, that's a valid question.
Speaker 4: But because of that, and because of there's people who
Speaker 4: are kind of pushing back against it that has not
Speaker 4: been pushed forward. So here we are still people are
Speaker 4: losing jobs, people are losing their home homes.
Speaker 6: There is a major bless you, he'll.
Speaker 5: Have any bless ye. I always want to do it twice.
Speaker 4: So there's there's people right now who are who are
Speaker 4: really hurting financially because they can't work.
Speaker 6: Like the average film.
Speaker 4: LA was said that the average production, according to their numbers,
Speaker 4: puts about six hundred and seventy thousand dollars a day
Speaker 4: back into the economy and fifteen hundred jobs. So we're
Speaker 4: talking about millions of jobs, millions of dollars into the economy,
Speaker 4: not just for people who work. You know, people only
Speaker 4: think they of the celebrities when they think of film production.
Speaker 4: But it's the craftsman, it's the graft services, it's the artisans,
Speaker 4: it's the gaffers, it's the sound people, it's all those people,
Speaker 4: the costumers and local businesses and restaurants who provide catering
Speaker 4: for these companies. So it's a it's a big overall
Speaker 4: impact that we're losing here in California that is going
Speaker 4: to other states, and we're not moving fast enough to
Speaker 4: correct it, and a lot of people think it may
Speaker 4: be too late. So many of the others, these other
Speaker 4: productions have already set up shop and already established. Netflix
Speaker 4: is opening a huge studio in New Jersey. It's like,
Speaker 4: you have to make it worth their while. And then
Speaker 4: some yeah, yeah, and part of it.
Speaker 2: I mean, granted, we have a history of one hundred
Speaker 2: plus years of filmmaking in California, but some of the
Speaker 2: studio lots, the studio equipment, the studios themselves are one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty years old.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, you don't have the up to do.
Speaker 2: Granted, some of the greatest technologies in the in the
Speaker 2: space have come out of la But if you're if
Speaker 2: you want to start a new studio, look at Tyler Perry.
Speaker 2: Tyler Perry spent a billion dollars on a production facility
Speaker 2: in studios in outside of Atlanta with all of the
Speaker 2: space he needs, more so than Warner Brothers and Universal
Speaker 2: studios put together, and anybody wants to start that same
Speaker 2: kind of a job, you're going to do it in
Speaker 2: Georgia or Dallas or in Tennessee, because not only do
Speaker 2: they have the space, they've got the tech, the tax incentives,
Speaker 2: the political uh, the political atmosphere in those states is
Speaker 2: also very allied hands off. Yeah, and magic cities in Atlanta,
Speaker 2: which is another reason you know.
Speaker 5: Here will we go it's star guarding.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I think you don't even have to
Speaker 6: acknowledge that I will not go ahead.
Speaker 4: You know, Philip was saying that one of the things
Speaker 4: that they're hoping to do with this new tax incentive
Speaker 4: is to widen the types of content that can be
Speaker 4: produced here, because, as you know, there is a lot
Speaker 4: of evolution in the way we consume content. It's not
Speaker 4: just going to the movies anymore. It's not just sitting
Speaker 4: down and watching ABC, CBS, NBC. You know, there's streaming platforms,
Speaker 4: there's digital content, there's there are television series being made
Speaker 4: just for your apps, just for TikTok.
Speaker 6: Just for YouTube.
Speaker 4: And you're right, they do need state of the art
Speaker 4: technology and spaces to be able to we ate that.
Speaker 6: But right now the way the current tax incentives are.
Speaker 4: It's just for film and television and a very narrow
Speaker 4: amount of production.
Speaker 2: It feels like, because of the history that I mentioned,
Speaker 2: it feels like there's a certain amount of arrogance when
Speaker 2: it comes to political leaders who want to talk about
Speaker 2: making sure that we have jobs and making sure we
Speaker 2: keep the industry in LA but just sitting back and saying,
Speaker 2: but well, we no one else has a beach like
Speaker 2: we do, and no one else has. You know that
Speaker 2: we've got the weather, we do it weather, But that
Speaker 2: doesn't guarantee anything. If you're Tyler Perry, you just you
Speaker 2: move your you move your entire set inside one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty thousand square foot building.
Speaker 3: You don't have to worry about the one.
Speaker 4: You know who else has the weather Australia And there's
Speaker 4: a lot of content and production that's moving to Australia
Speaker 4: as well, and filmmakers.
Speaker 5: Are are then Cole Kidman's there and.
Speaker 6: Nicole Kidman guy, and the guy.
Speaker 5: You Jackman Jackman.
Speaker 6: He's the guy Russell Crow, who is very nice. By
Speaker 6: the way, Can I just say he's very nice.
Speaker 5: I just saw LA Confidential for the first time.
Speaker 1: Watch last Weekend that's a great It was a great movie.
Speaker 4: We talk about something that was filmed in LA and
Speaker 4: shows the story in LA.
Speaker 6: That's a great.
Speaker 1: So that was a lot of fun, I mean, and
Speaker 1: it made me realize how much I miss Kevin Spacey.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, what do you really do? I mean,
Speaker 5: come on?
Speaker 1: Also, Russell Crowe, I think much more attractive older as
Speaker 1: supposed to younger.
Speaker 6: More seasoned. I think most men do get more.
Speaker 3: Attractive trying to butter me up.
Speaker 5: It's like hell fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: But look at you second time you've said that today
Speaker 2: it's a compliment, and see what it's a compliment.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm gonna have I'm gonna share more about my
Speaker 4: interview for Philip I love you guys. I'm going to
Speaker 4: share more of my interview with Philip and more in
Speaker 4: depth and talk a little bit more about what the
Speaker 4: situation is, what they're doing to fight it, and how
Speaker 4: people here in LA who want to stay in LA
Speaker 4: and keep working here what they can do.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned KFI News, Heather, we'll have all of those reports.
Speaker 5: She does talk to us like we're the mangy neighborhood dog, like,
Speaker 5: oh I love you, I do love you.
Speaker 6: Guys, kay, I totally can.
Speaker 5: That's how much I love you, I know, and I
Speaker 5: love that.
Speaker 1: I haven't been yelled at in the street for years.
Speaker 1: Felt real good.
Speaker 2: You got honked out on Santa Monica Boulevard yesterday, That's
Speaker 2: because I was jaywalking.
Speaker 7: You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
Speaker 7: AM six forty.
Speaker 5: Stories.
Speaker 1: We're falling for you today. Still have an I on
Speaker 1: Wall Street obviously. Navidia pulling Wall Street lower today. It
Speaker 1: said new restrictions on exports to China will chisel billions
Speaker 1: of dollars off its results. S and P five hundred
Speaker 1: found one point two percent. The Nasdaq was dragged down
Speaker 1: two point one. United Airlines gave two forecasts for its
Speaker 1: financials for the upcoming year, one if there's a recession
Speaker 1: and another not oh great.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: You did see shoppers by the way accelerate their purchases
Speaker 1: of cars and electronics last month.
Speaker 3: Try to get in before the terriff. Yeah.
Speaker 2: A federal judge in DC says he has found probable
Speaker 2: cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of
Speaker 2: court for violating his orders to turn around those planes
Speaker 2: that were carrying deporties down to l Salvador. The judge
Speaker 2: said that he could refer the matter for prosecution if
Speaker 2: the administration doesn't purge its contempt contempt. He said he
Speaker 2: wants to have them file some papers. They have a
Speaker 2: week to do so. I said he would appoint another
Speaker 2: attorney to prosecute the contempt matter if necessary.
Speaker 3: We get into it.
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Speaker 1: I just saw a ring camera commercial. Is it bad
Speaker 1: when ring camera is advertising and the main advertising point
Speaker 1: is we can catch people when they steal your stuff,
Speaker 1: i e. Packages cars, things right out of your drive
Speaker 1: like that was the main focus of their TV ad
Speaker 1: that we just saw.
Speaker 5: That's a sad state of.
Speaker 2: Affairs, I agree, but it's just a reflection of what's
Speaker 2: going on out there right outside your ring doorbell.
Speaker 1: Daniel Ridge worked as a morgue attendant for a hospital
Speaker 1: in Oakland. He was fired or dismissed when returning from
Speaker 1: a leave period. Well, a judge there in Alameda County
Speaker 1: Superior Court has awarded Daniel two point four million in
Speaker 1: a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer, Alameda Health System.
Speaker 5: Great news, right, Well.
Speaker 1: Daniel's lawyers can't find him because Daniel is homeless. He's
Speaker 1: a homeless guy up in the Bay Area. He's got
Speaker 1: two point four million dollars and doesn't even know it.
Speaker 1: They said that he was dismissed from his job at
Speaker 1: the morgue because, well, at the same time that he
Speaker 1: was fighting with his own mental health demons. How could
Speaker 1: you not if you worked in a morgue, it's got
Speaker 1: to f you up a little bit, right totally. Apparently,
Speaker 1: as the case dragged on, because he sued a wrongful termination,
Speaker 1: still had it together enough to file that lawsuit with
Speaker 1: the help of the attorneys, obviously, but the case drags on,
Speaker 1: and as it's dragging on, his mental health deteriorates further,
Speaker 1: so much so he was unfit to test ay and
Speaker 1: became homeless, became a strange from his family, including his
Speaker 1: ten year old son.
Speaker 5: They don't know where he is.
Speaker 1: They're trying to find him among the thousands of people
Speaker 1: living on the street in Oakland.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of the National Coalition for the Homeless
Speaker 2: is a group that is in that space. They said
Speaker 2: that there are limitations to what information a shelter would
Speaker 2: be able to provide, even for someone who has this
Speaker 2: massive windfall. Donald White, as an executive director of the group.
Speaker 2: He said, I've seen so many times people searching for
Speaker 2: loved ones, but there's protections for the people and their identity.
Speaker 2: So it's a challenge when people get lost in the system.
Speaker 2: This guy, again, Daniel Ridge, had a life. I mean,
Speaker 2: you figure. He lived in California during the eighties and nineties,
Speaker 2: a lot of narcotics gang violence rose sharply in the state.
Speaker 2: He was one of many people affected by this way
Speaker 2: of crime. He lost six of his closest friends to
Speaker 2: gang related violence. He's in his twenties. His uncle is
Speaker 2: killed in front of him by a coworker who set
Speaker 2: him on fire with a Molotov cocktail, and two of
Speaker 2: his cousins committed suicide right after that.
Speaker 1: So he had PTSD that when undiagnosed or untreated for decades.
Speaker 1: But despite all of that, he became a certified nursing assistant,
Speaker 1: found a job as a part time morgue attendant in
Speaker 1: Oakland at a hospital. He's hired by that hospital in
Speaker 1: June of two thousand and six and for years got
Speaker 1: great positive feedback in his employee evaluations.
Speaker 5: So that's two thousand and six that he's hired.
Speaker 1: By late twenty thirteen, the full time morgue attendant took
Speaker 1: a leave of absence and then retired, so full time
Speaker 1: morgue responsibilities fell to this guy, Daniel Ridge. He had
Speaker 1: to work seven days a week. He was only getting
Speaker 1: part time pay and this went on for about a year.
Speaker 1: So during this year, because he's still part time, technically
Speaker 1: he's not receiving benefits like health insurance. So he raises
Speaker 1: the issue about the hours and the part time pay
Speaker 1: with several times with hospital leaders and shortly after the
Speaker 1: lawsuit announces an opening for a full time morgue attendant,
Speaker 1: so he's required to apply an interview for the position,
Speaker 1: which he eventually got. But apparently he was also complaining
Speaker 1: about other things at the hospital. He alleged she was
Speaker 1: forced to use a landline. What is that a hardship
Speaker 1: forced to use a landline and go to the hospital
Speaker 1: library on a different floor whenever he needed to research
Speaker 1: medical conditions related to the bodies in the morgue.
Speaker 3: There were a bunch of other things, like the disposition.
Speaker 1: Why is he researching medical conditions related to bodies? Does
Speaker 1: he have to fill out paperwork he is not qualify
Speaker 1: to fill out in the morgue about the dead bodies.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I would know what the morgue has to fill out.
Speaker 2: But he also raised the alarm when it came to
Speaker 2: things like disposal of formaldehyde. He was asking for respiratory
Speaker 2: equipment that he was not supplied with, the sanitation issues,
Speaker 2: the handling of bodies, the condition of the bodies when
Speaker 2: they would come down from the hospital above. At one
Speaker 2: point he did visit a psychiatrist. He gave him a
Speaker 2: note to take work off for six days because of
Speaker 2: the PTSD, and he had a conversation with somebody at
Speaker 2: the alamy To Health Systems, the hospital owner, who said
Speaker 2: to him, well, you're eligible for leave a unpaid job
Speaker 2: protected leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, and then
Speaker 2: would have to complete the forms by so and so.
Speaker 2: When he came back to work with his Family Medical
Speaker 2: Leave Act paperwork in hand, he was told by his
Speaker 2: job that he'd been terminated.
Speaker 3: He was escorted out by security.
Speaker 2: He later filed that wrongful termination lawsuit against his employer,
Speaker 2: and again he he won two million dollars for past
Speaker 2: and future emotional distress, almost half a million dollars for
Speaker 2: loss of past earnings.
Speaker 3: And they can't find this guy.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 5: God, I'm so torn.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are legit grievances to have against an employer,
Speaker 1: but there are so many smaller employers that are so
Speaker 1: taken advantage of by lawsuits like this. You know of
Speaker 1: I had to work this, and I had to do
Speaker 1: this and this, and this gave me anxiety, and this
Speaker 1: gave me this and all of the things.
Speaker 5: And I'm going to assue you.
Speaker 1: And it's like it's one thing if it's a big
Speaker 1: health group or whatever, but it's another thing if it's
Speaker 1: like a you know, a dentist office or something a smaller,
Speaker 1: you know, outfit. I just feel like so often these
Speaker 1: days people are looking for well, how can I sue Okay,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to get fired or whatever. Well, I'll
Speaker 1: get them on this. It's like they can't be good
Speaker 1: for you either, to constantly be like we worked with
Speaker 1: somebody who kept a list of things that she could grievances.
Speaker 1: You know, like that can't be good for your own
Speaker 1: mental health, right.
Speaker 2: To just be if you're constantly on the lookout for
Speaker 2: that sort of thing, you're gonna find it exactly.
Speaker 3: That's the problem. We'll stop.
Speaker 1: It's going to affect you more than it would if
Speaker 1: you weren't super focused on it.
Speaker 5: I don't know what do I know?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: Our regular chat with the Los Angeles Police Department Chief
Speaker 2: Jim McDonald is coming up next.
Speaker 7: You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
Speaker 7: am six forty.
Speaker 1: Right to it waste no more time for LAPD Chief
Speaker 1: Jim McDonald, who is kind enough to join us from
Speaker 1: time to time talk about the goings on in the
Speaker 1: department and in the city of Los Angeles.
Speaker 5: Chief, thanks for joining us. Today.
Speaker 8: Yay, good morning, Shannon, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: As always, well, prosecutors have filed a murder charge. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: this awful story of this thirteen year old boy vanishes
Speaker 1: from the valley on a Sunday, body discover on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Turns out it was the trusted family friend like soccer coach,
Speaker 1: who has been charged and arrested with the murder. And
Speaker 1: of course, like we've talked about on the show, Chief,
Speaker 1: when you see the title soccer coach, you think more
Speaker 1: victims right off the bat. Is that what your detectives
Speaker 1: are working on at this point with this case.
Speaker 8: Yeah, certainly they're looking to follow up on any leads
Speaker 8: that would lead to additional victims if they're working this
Speaker 8: thing hard and right from the very beginning. Once we
Speaker 8: got this and it led us in the direction that
Speaker 8: ultimately we feared we would be traveling in, we put
Speaker 8: a lot of resources into it. The detectives were committed
Speaker 8: to this, getting some closure on it very quickly and
Speaker 8: hoping to be able to be as comprehensive as they could.
Speaker 8: And so that continues. They're looking at the current case
Speaker 8: they're dealing with, but looking for any tenet that may
Speaker 8: be associated as well. We've put out the notices to
Speaker 8: the community for anybody who has seen this person, who
Speaker 8: has interacted with this person, to be able to try
Speaker 8: and interview them and get additional additional info.
Speaker 2: How do you how do you grease the skids on that?
Speaker 2: How do you encourage people to come forward with something
Speaker 2: like that if they hadn't come forward before? What is
Speaker 2: it about the the reaching out of detectives and the department?
Speaker 2: How do you get them to actually come in and
Speaker 2: talk about what they've either gone through or what they
Speaker 2: know about.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, it's very difficult to get people to
Speaker 8: talk about this type of a crime, but I think
Speaker 8: there is less of a hesitancy to come forward when
Speaker 8: the suspect is in custody. There's less of a threat
Speaker 8: felt as a result of that, and the stigma, that
Speaker 8: perceived stigma may still be there. But our hope is
Speaker 8: that when they think about what they went through and
Speaker 8: hope that no other kid has to go through this,
Speaker 8: that by coming forward, this person will be held accountable
Speaker 8: for all of the crimes that they did.
Speaker 2: You know, the other aspect of this case is the
Speaker 2: cooperation between the police Department, La City Police and La
Speaker 2: County Sheriff's Department. Can you talk about the communication levels?
Speaker 2: Obviously you guys have been working alongside each other for
Speaker 2: decades century plus. How does it work now in a
Speaker 2: case like this, very high profile, where you've got to
Speaker 2: both jurisdictions represented.
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, we work very well together. When it gets
Speaker 8: right down to a case, everybody focuses on what needs
Speaker 8: to be done on the case. In this case, we
Speaker 8: work very closely with the La County Sheriff's Department, but
Speaker 8: also the FBI, who are our partners as well. And
Speaker 8: so we're blessed in southern California here in LA in particular,
Speaker 8: and that's remarked on by people who come here as
Speaker 8: federal agents. They transfer generally if they're running the office,
Speaker 8: every three years or so, and every one of them
Speaker 8: remarks at the relationship that we have here in LA
Speaker 8: between state and local partners, that we work together seamlessly,
Speaker 8: and that unfortunately they don't see that in many places
Speaker 8: throughout the country. So that's not something was always the case.
Speaker 8: We worked hard to achieve that, and we worked hard
Speaker 8: to maintain that as we go forward. But it works
Speaker 8: well for us, particularly in crimes like this.
Speaker 1: LAPD most highly regarded law enforcement agency in the world.
Speaker 1: I mean, go no further than Hollywood. For generations, We've
Speaker 1: seen stories, shows, movies to tell us and to highlight
Speaker 1: what the LAPD has done, what a storied history it provides.
Speaker 1: We talked recently about the trash fees going up in
Speaker 1: the city of La and that the last time that
Speaker 1: was done was seventeen years ago when Via Ragosa raised
Speaker 1: them to bring the LAPD back up to ten thousand.
Speaker 5: I believe it was at the time.
Speaker 1: And now the LAPD has a new recruitment effort out
Speaker 1: to get the next generation of officers.
Speaker 5: We wanted to ask you about that.
Speaker 1: Who you're looking for, what you want on the forest,
Speaker 1: what you wanted to look like and feel like in
Speaker 1: all of the things. Can you hang on and tell
Speaker 1: us about that when we come back.
Speaker 8: Well sure, so, thank you, Shannon Schup.
Speaker 2: Actually we're talking with LAPD Chief Jim McDonald. We'll be
Speaker 2: back with that in just a second.
Speaker 7: You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
Speaker 7: Am six forty.
Speaker 2: We are speaking with La Police Department Chief Jim McDonald
Speaker 2: and Chief we know that just a couple of days
Speaker 2: ago the LAPD announced the launch of a new recruitment
Speaker 2: campaign called Unrivaled Since eighteen sixty nine, obviously a nod
Speaker 2: to the history of the great history of the department.
Speaker 2: What is the new campaign? Who are you shooting for?
Speaker 2: In terms of looking to bring new people into the LAPD?
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, a great time to become a police officer
Speaker 8: in Los Angeles. We've been able, with the support of
Speaker 8: the Los Angeles Police Foundation and the city, to be
Speaker 8: able to come forward and put together with the assistance
Speaker 8: of an expert team to the media immedia team, and
Speaker 8: be able to put together a video that I think
Speaker 8: captures the essence of what we do as police officers,
Speaker 8: the pace of things, the hard times, the tough things
Speaker 8: to deal with, as well as the rewarding things. It
Speaker 8: shows compassion for anybody who's interested. Is available on the
Speaker 8: web at LAPD unrivaled dot com and it's a video
Speaker 8: that I think will attract people from all walks of
Speaker 8: life who may have an interest in law enforcement or
Speaker 8: may be looking for a direction in their life that
Speaker 8: may be exciting and rewarding at the same time. And
Speaker 8: my hope is that this is a good first step
Speaker 8: to getting people to apply to the Los Angeles Police
Speaker 8: Department for a career that they will look back on
Speaker 8: many years from now, hopefully and be able to say
Speaker 8: that there's nothing I would have rather done. I feel
Speaker 8: that way myself, and I want to be able to
Speaker 8: share that with as many people who might have an
Speaker 8: inclination at all, that this is something that would be
Speaker 8: a good fi.
Speaker 1: It's good to hear that there is a recruitment effort
Speaker 1: because you want to hear that there is a desire
Speaker 1: to bolster the LAPD in Los Angeles, that there is
Speaker 1: a desire to keep the force strong and even make
Speaker 1: it stronger than it is.
Speaker 5: Hopefully that is certainly the case here.
Speaker 1: Certainly feels the way that things are with a new
Speaker 1: recruitment campaign.
Speaker 8: Yeah right, no, thank you. Yeah. You mentioned we had
Speaker 8: been at ten thousand under Mayor Viragosa some years ago.
Speaker 8: That has now we're at The current status is about
Speaker 8: eighty seven thirty five, so that for us is very lean.
Speaker 8: We look forward to be able to have full academy
Speaker 8: classes moving forward. We have the commitment from the mayor
Speaker 8: and support to be able to fund that and maintain
Speaker 8: our ability to be able to put classes through the academy.
Speaker 8: Our challenge has been the pipeline once people and we
Speaker 8: have an increased number of people applying to the LA
Speaker 8: Police officers, but they also apply other places at the
Speaker 8: same time, and the smaller departments are more nimble and
Speaker 8: are able to offer a job quicker than we have been,
Speaker 8: and so we're looking to streamline that and make the
Speaker 8: process more efficient for everybody.
Speaker 5: What's your ideal LAPD officer.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that sounds pretty trite, and it could,
Speaker 1: you know, but is it somebody who born and raised
Speaker 1: in LA somebody like you came from another place? I mean,
Speaker 1: LA is obviously the landing spot for people from the
Speaker 1: entire world. Is it just a you want everybody to
Speaker 1: be represented in this department?
Speaker 8: No, absolutely, I think there's a place here for everybody.
Speaker 8: Everybody brings something different to the table. I would love
Speaker 8: to be able to see people from all walks of life,
Speaker 8: different experiences, different backgrounds, different education levels to be able
Speaker 8: to come forward and see this as an opportunity for them.
Speaker 8: We have over two hundred and fifty jobs in the
Speaker 8: Los Angeles Police Department, and so you come into the
Speaker 8: department and the opportunities are seemingly endless. On what you
Speaker 8: may be able to do, to participate and to play
Speaker 8: a role in making this city even safer.
Speaker 3: Is there more say?
Speaker 2: Is there more of a value people, you know, home
Speaker 2: grown people born and raised in La I mean to
Speaker 2: kind of as an angle to that, or are you
Speaker 2: looking for international candidates You're looking for you know, all
Speaker 2: around the country candidates.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, we want the best in the brightest,
Speaker 8: wherever they come from. Certainly, somebody who has grown up
Speaker 8: in the in the community, they know the needs of
Speaker 8: the community. Others would have to learn that and familiarize
Speaker 8: themselves with that. So there is some advantage to somebody
Speaker 8: who is an Angelino, a native of the area. But
Speaker 8: certainly people from all over the country attracted to the
Speaker 8: LAPD brand and the city of La is a lore.
Speaker 8: And I would encourage people from everywhere to take a
Speaker 8: look at our website and see if they think the
Speaker 8: fit is right for them and to be able then
Speaker 8: to go through the process. And it is a strenuous process,
Speaker 8: but once you get through it, and you know, as
Speaker 8: I mentioned, my perspective is there is no better job
Speaker 8: out there. It's exciting, it's challenging, you get to meet
Speaker 8: new people all the time, and at the end of
Speaker 8: the day, you feel like you help somebody maybe manage.
Speaker 1: To stay their lives, you know, Chief, I see specifically
Speaker 1: here in the campaign it says adults aged twenty one
Speaker 1: to thirty five.
Speaker 6: Is there a.
Speaker 5: Wiggle room on that?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you've seen the major
Speaker 1: motion picture of the Rookie starring Dennis Quaid, but maybe
Speaker 1: is there room in the forest from middle aged radio
Speaker 1: talk show host female who just loves the lapd and
Speaker 1: wants to protect something.
Speaker 8: Yeah, there is. There is no upper age limit, and
Speaker 8: I think you would be a great at eight. I
Speaker 8: would apply and and will monitor your progress through the
Speaker 8: system where leeah, we're looking for people with kind of
Speaker 8: a sense of adventure, but people who are stable, people
Speaker 8: who are.
Speaker 1: Okay, you had to throw that in there, huh stable
Speaker 1: Great couldn't get past the second qualification.
Speaker 8: That's open to interpretation. But somebody with high integrity, somebody
Speaker 8: who is willing to go out there and do things
Speaker 8: on behalf of others to keep people safe. Somebody who
Speaker 8: is reasonably physically fit, high integrity and just a good
Speaker 8: heart that they want to help other people.
Speaker 1: Chief, Jim McDonald, thank you so much. For your time.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it. I think I checked some of those boxes.
Speaker 1: Definitely not the stability one. But appreciate your time, Chief,
Speaker 1: and have a good week.
Speaker 8: Thanks, but thank you both very much. If you bet, I've.
Speaker 3: Got Chief McDonald there. We'll continue our conversations with him.
Speaker 2: He's such a nice guy periodically over the next several months.
Speaker 2: What I love about that campaign that he's talking about,
Speaker 2: the new recruitment campaign, is they put an emphasis on
Speaker 2: the fact that there are I think it's two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty different job types within the LAPD. Because when
Speaker 2: we say LAPD, everybody thinks dark blue uniform, squad car.
Speaker 3: But you think about.
Speaker 2: The dive unit, the air support, the.
Speaker 5: Is there anything in there I can do on that list?
Speaker 3: You have see drone by now?
Speaker 1: Is there like a greater job like at Walmart where
Speaker 1: I can stand outside Parker Center or whatever the new
Speaker 1: park Sorry.
Speaker 6: That's all that's how far?
Speaker 1: That's the age range I am, or stand outside of
Speaker 1: headquarters and just greet people. Could I do that with
Speaker 1: this face? If I worked on it? If you smiled, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you welcome to LAPD. How's that is that good?
Speaker 3: That'd be fine. That'd be fine. We can work on it.
Speaker 5: Hi, this is the LAPD. Hello, if the if.
Speaker 3: The giants sign out in front, do hind people?
Speaker 5: Welcome to the LAPD. Maybe if I have an accent,
Speaker 5: an accent? Accent?
Speaker 3: What kind of an accent?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's la right, I mean you could here's the thing.
Speaker 3: You could mix it up.
Speaker 2: The one hundred and sixty different languages spoken in the city.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's a true number. I just
Speaker 2: said it, but you could say it in one hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty different accents.
Speaker 5: But mong yeah, okay.
Speaker 3: I was waiting for you to do a long accent.
Speaker 2: IM not going to do have that swap. Watch when
Speaker 2: we come back to Gary and Shannon. You've been listening
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