Speaker 1: Well, we've we talked with them last month, Shannon, you
Speaker 1: were out so you didn't get the opportunity. But LAPD
Speaker 1: chief Jim McDonald has joined joined us. Chief, thanks for
Speaker 1: taking time for us once again.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Thank you both for having me on.
Speaker 3: I was just thinking about you. Well, it wasn't just
Speaker 3: thinking about you. Was a couple of years ago when
Speaker 3: I finally got to Fenway and beautiful, Oh my gosh. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and I'm standing outside and it's all the things. It's like,
Speaker 3: all the build up of thinking of going to Fenway,
Speaker 3: it all pays off, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 3: it's not just a romantic thing in your head. It's
Speaker 3: like I'm standing outside there and I just get chills,
Speaker 3: and I was just like, and then I was thinking,
Speaker 3: like you you grew up right around.
Speaker 2: There, Yeah, right down the street. Yeah. It's a special
Speaker 2: place I think in American history. Really.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fantastic. I would go if I haven't been here.
Speaker 3: Is your endorsement to go?
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: Chief.
Speaker 1: This week, you guys released the end of your crime
Speaker 1: report for twenty twenty four. Let's go over some of
Speaker 1: those those numbers. What were the highlights for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think the big the big ones had struck
Speaker 2: me or the reduction in homicides were down fourteen percent
Speaker 2: from the year before, and that is that's a big one.
Speaker 2: That's the one that everybody counts very accurately. So I
Speaker 2: think as a measure of success, certainly we looked to
Speaker 2: that one for twenty twenty four. Then we built on
Speaker 2: that in the first quarter of this year. We're down
Speaker 2: an additional forty percent for twenty twenty four. The victim
Speaker 2: shot a number of people shot was down nineteen percent.
Speaker 2: Rapes decreased by almost one hundred during the year. Robberies
Speaker 2: saw a slight decline and then a large decline in
Speaker 2: aggravated assaults from over twenty thousand down to seventeen thousand
Speaker 2: and six. And so all in all, look at our
Speaker 2: numbers across the board, twenty twenty four was a good
Speaker 2: year for Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: I remember a press conference of five hundred years ago.
Speaker 4: You were an assistant chief at the time.
Speaker 3: Bill Bratton was there, and you guys, the focus was
Speaker 3: talking about community policing and you know, the broken windows theory,
Speaker 3: and I know you're a big community policing guy. And
Speaker 3: now that you're back at the Helm of the LAPD.
Speaker 3: Do you see room for more of that? Is that
Speaker 3: one of the items on your agenda is to really
Speaker 3: I mean post pandemic, post protest life.
Speaker 4: Is this something that could.
Speaker 3: Really create great strides in Los Angeles right now in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's we're looking at community policing
Speaker 2: as more of a philosophy how we do business, looking
Speaker 2: at the root causes rather than just the symptoms or incidents.
Speaker 2: That's a focus that we have taken them will continue
Speaker 2: to take. I look at, you know, the areas that
Speaker 2: are covered by our folks who work the Community Safety
Speaker 2: Partnership Bureau, where they focused community policing efforts and strategies
Speaker 2: on particular places. Homicides fell by forty percent in those
Speaker 2: areas twenty twenty four. And so when you look at
Speaker 2: the success of engaging with the community, nobody knows a
Speaker 2: particular neighborhood better than the people who live there. So
Speaker 2: if we can make them part of the public safety
Speaker 2: equation and partner with them, we get tremendous results. So
Speaker 2: the effort will be to continue that and take it
Speaker 2: to a new level.
Speaker 1: One of the criticisms from people who watch crime numbers
Speaker 1: like this, is that the definitions of crime have changed
Speaker 1: over the years, and that can alter what appears to
Speaker 1: be a drop or an increase in a specific crime.
Speaker 1: How do you account for that? How do you make
Speaker 1: sure that the numbers are as accurate as you can
Speaker 1: possibly make them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do the best we can to try and
Speaker 2: be able to compare Apple Staples and have. This year
Speaker 2: has been a modification in that because the whole nation
Speaker 2: has transferred or in the process of transferring, from the
Speaker 2: Uniform Crime Reporting System, which is the one we've used
Speaker 2: for well over a years to now the National Incident
Speaker 2: Based Reporting System or NIGHBORS. That fundamentally changes the way
Speaker 2: crime data is collected and analyzed. But while it's more
Speaker 2: labor intensive and takes more people to be able to
Speaker 2: do the input on the front end, it captures a
Speaker 2: lot more data, so it gives us the ability to
Speaker 2: do a greater level of analysis and to be able
Speaker 2: to identify patterns and trends and clusters of crime. So
Speaker 2: all in all, it'll be worth the transition down the road,
Speaker 2: but for this year, comparing it year to year data
Speaker 2: will be difficult. It happened the transition took place in
Speaker 2: May of last year, and so in May of this year,
Speaker 2: we'll start at a point where we can compare year
Speaker 2: to year moving forward.
Speaker 3: We're talking to LAPD chief Jim McDonell, and you're a
Speaker 3: Long Beach guy, if memory serves. I was just in
Speaker 3: Long Beach last week, spend some time there, and I
Speaker 3: was talking to our friend and she was talking about
Speaker 3: the e buy and I know, Orange County's got some
Speaker 3: things in the works in terms of kind of just
Speaker 3: getting a handle on the proliferation of these things. And
Speaker 3: she was saying that she was walking around Long Beach
Speaker 3: and there was all these kids on the e bikes,
Speaker 3: and what can be kind of done in terms of
Speaker 3: getting a handle on that. I guess for lack of
Speaker 3: a better because there's no you can't pass any laws
Speaker 3: against them or anything like that, but they certainly seem
Speaker 3: to be kind of a nuisance at least in some
Speaker 3: parts of LA.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, like anything good, there will be some
Speaker 2: people who abuse it and use it for other purposes
Speaker 2: and become either a nuisance or worse. In the case
Speaker 2: of e bikes, much like any of our traffic issues
Speaker 2: that we deal with, we try and do education to
Speaker 2: educate the community about the dangers of using certain methods
Speaker 2: to get around of how they can better protect their
Speaker 2: own safety and the safety of the public. And then
Speaker 2: usually we would look at engineering, where are these being
Speaker 2: allowed to be operated, how do we operate them? And
Speaker 2: again going back to the first part, letting people know
Speaker 2: what the dangers of them are. And then enforcement. You know,
Speaker 2: if they're operating this vehicle or any other vehicle in
Speaker 2: an unsafe manner, we can take enforcement action. And I
Speaker 2: think that's hopefully a last resort, but those are the
Speaker 2: way we deal with these type of problems. Education in
Speaker 2: the schools as well. Social media also may have an impact.
Speaker 1: We're talking about LAPD Chief Jim McDonald. Jim, if you
Speaker 1: have an opportunity, Chief, can you stick around for another segment?
Speaker 2: Oh? Sure, I'm good.
Speaker 1: Good. We got a couple more questions. I want to
Speaker 1: get into technology also.
Speaker 3: And I also want to ask him the Jeopardy question
Speaker 3: of the day because it's about Ireland and I feel
Speaker 3: like he's going to know it better than you will.
Speaker 1: Right more with LAPD Chief McDonald when we come back.
Speaker 3: We are talking to LAPD Chief Jim McDonald, who I
Speaker 3: think was everybody's pick everybody's favorite to lead the department
Speaker 3: where he spent so much much time. You spent time
Speaker 3: really everywhere Long Beach, l a p D. Sheriff's Department,
Speaker 3: and he is back at the helm of the l
Speaker 3: a p D and has found it in his hard
Speaker 3: to spend some time with us.
Speaker 2: How about them Dodgers, Chief, They're doing great, maybe unstoppable.
Speaker 3: Can you believe about Rodney Pete in the middle of
Speaker 3: the night snagging that ball from Max Munsey along the
Speaker 3: first baseline?
Speaker 4: We should lock them up? Maybe we locked them up.
Speaker 1: We beat him on the tarmament.
Speaker 3: Rodney works down the hall from us, so he's one
Speaker 3: of our friends here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it really is a great family.
Speaker 2: Chief.
Speaker 1: We're talking about crime numbers, and we've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about artificial intelligence for in all different industries and different
Speaker 1: walks of life. Is there a move at all, whether
Speaker 1: it's LAPD specific or law enforcement in general, to use
Speaker 1: artificial intelligence in policing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of vendors trying to be able
Speaker 2: to enter the market and the public safety arena. Certainly
Speaker 2: a lot of money to be made long term in it,
Speaker 2: but also a great tool, but one that I would
Speaker 2: ask that we you know, my peers, that we beat
Speaker 2: judicious about employing that and not doing it too fast
Speaker 2: and end up losing a great tool. But I think
Speaker 2: where we can see it enter the market now is
Speaker 2: to be able to go into realms and reams of data,
Speaker 2: to be able to find things that are detectives say,
Speaker 2: could normally find if they had the time, but they don't,
Speaker 2: and allow them to be able to narrow the field
Speaker 2: and look at clues or data that they need to
Speaker 2: be able to put a case together. Likewise with redaction
Speaker 2: and so many other things that we do that we
Speaker 2: just don't have the personnel to do it. To be
Speaker 2: able to get an assist from AI or machine learning,
Speaker 2: you know, to begin with, it would be a big help.
Speaker 3: How refreshing to hear somebody in power say, yeah, there's
Speaker 3: a lot of money to be made in contracts, especially
Speaker 3: with you know, public money right to be made with
Speaker 3: contracts with the city or the police department or fire
Speaker 3: what have you. But to make sure all right, yeah,
Speaker 3: we we it's the future. Will probably contract out in
Speaker 3: the in the future, but be careful and do it
Speaker 3: right exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's a great tool, and
Speaker 2: like so many other great tools. We have a tendency
Speaker 2: to rush into things and uh and put them to
Speaker 2: work right away, and it's you know, premature, and we
Speaker 2: end up losing some some good opportunities.
Speaker 1: Well I think you lose. You have the potential also
Speaker 1: to lose. What makes what makes the job a great
Speaker 1: thing is that it's human interaction. I mean, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: we mentioned, I mentioned last time that we were talking
Speaker 1: with you, Chief that of the thousands of contacts that
Speaker 1: the LAPD has every single day with people, we only
Speaker 1: hear one or two or three and they're usually not positive.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's and that the there's thousands of
Speaker 1: other great positive contacts that happen every single day that
Speaker 1: just don't get the attention.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, probably literally millions of contacts a year, and
Speaker 2: you hear about the ones that go wrong, and we
Speaker 2: hate it when any go wrong. But when you think
Speaker 2: about people call the police when their world is upside down,
Speaker 2: their situation is out of their control. The police come
Speaker 2: into a situation that's emotionally charged or more difficult, with alcohol,
Speaker 2: drugs and mental illness involved so often the case today,
Speaker 2: and try and be able to de escalate the situation
Speaker 2: and restore some order and get people the services they need.
Speaker 2: That's pretty challenging for anyone in any field, and that's
Speaker 2: what they do. Call after call.
Speaker 3: Chief McDonald may have been from Boston area Brookline, but
Speaker 3: he is a graduate of the LA Police Academy. Do
Speaker 3: you remember and I'm putting you on the spot here,
Speaker 3: but do you remember of any of those like early
Speaker 3: interactions you had, whether it was in the academy or
Speaker 3: after you got the academy, with people in the community
Speaker 3: that kind of stick with.
Speaker 4: You throughout your masterful career.
Speaker 3: I mean now as head of the LAPD, But like
Speaker 3: interactions or cases, are things that stuck with you that
Speaker 3: remind you of why you do what you do?
Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, you know, thinking back, that was forty four
Speaker 2: years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.
Speaker 2: But coming out onto the street in the city I
Speaker 2: didn't know at the time with people I had never
Speaker 2: met before was something that was exciting but challenging, and
Speaker 2: to be able to kind of acclimate to a new
Speaker 2: culture and certainly a new career. I look back on
Speaker 2: that and the thing that reminded me continuously of why
Speaker 2: we do what we do. Sometimes under the most difficult
Speaker 2: to circumstances is because of the victims, the people out
Speaker 2: there who truly need the police, who without the police
Speaker 2: would be living in terror, be locked in their homes,
Speaker 2: and not be able to function in the way that
Speaker 2: we all as Americans would expect to be able to.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I've constantly been reminded throughout my career of
Speaker 2: why I'm here, primarily because of the people who need
Speaker 2: us the most.
Speaker 4: All right, are you ready for your jeopardy question? Okay,
Speaker 4: all right, this is something we do every day.
Speaker 3: I ask Gary a stupid jeopardy question from the stupid
Speaker 3: dusk calendar we have. But today it's Ireland for one
Speaker 3: thousand dollars. Chief founded in nine fourteen. Founded in nine fourteen.
Speaker 3: This city, known for its crystal, is the oldest in Ireland.
Speaker 2: Crystal.
Speaker 4: It's in the south. It's in the south.
Speaker 1: Waterford, Waterford crystal.
Speaker 2: Wow, Why do I not know that that's the most
Speaker 2: common crystal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all right, Waterford.
Speaker 4: Listen.
Speaker 3: I went to Waterford in Ireland and it was nothing
Speaker 3: to write home about. It was very industrial, The crystal
Speaker 3: warehouse was very nondescript.
Speaker 4: But the crystal is beautiful.
Speaker 2: You stumped me.
Speaker 1: On that one.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. Next next time, I'll make sure to get
Speaker 3: you gimme.
Speaker 4: Chief.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time once again, we'll talk soon.
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1: Absolutely l a p D. Chief to McDonald there with
Speaker 1: the latest and yeah, we like like these conversations with
Speaker 1: him and hopefully well he'll come back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely