curious to see the attachment to traffic enforcement - traffic fatalities are up in most cities i believe, and the perception at least is that enforcement has been down since the pandemic. i live in philly, not LA but we have some of the same trends and struggles, albeit on a smaller scale (beleaguered progressive DA, terrible mayor doing awful things to unhoused people, homeowners losing their minds over the existence of bike lanes, etc). good newsletter!
Thanks! Fatalities/injuries are up in LA and enforcement is way down -- from about half a million stops pre-pandemic to 220,000 last year. Some of that comes from a mandate to reduce pretextual stops but it's mostly just looking the other way on moving violations. My assumption about traffic enforcement is it still represents enough of a share of overall work hours that it would threaten OT if removed from the portfolio.
I've always wondered what a crime and police analysis written by a Garbage Pail Kid would be like and now I have my answer.
curious to see the attachment to traffic enforcement - traffic fatalities are up in most cities i believe, and the perception at least is that enforcement has been down since the pandemic. i live in philly, not LA but we have some of the same trends and struggles, albeit on a smaller scale (beleaguered progressive DA, terrible mayor doing awful things to unhoused people, homeowners losing their minds over the existence of bike lanes, etc). good newsletter!
Thanks! Fatalities/injuries are up in LA and enforcement is way down -- from about half a million stops pre-pandemic to 220,000 last year. Some of that comes from a mandate to reduce pretextual stops but it's mostly just looking the other way on moving violations. My assumption about traffic enforcement is it still represents enough of a share of overall work hours that it would threaten OT if removed from the portfolio.
Here's the NYT article where that data comes from (also confirms your suspicion about Philly) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/29/upshot/traffic-enforcement-dwindled.html
Yep. When you’re well spill more tea on City Hall for us?