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West Hollywood officials report steady response times, new pilot inspections and Jewish community safety plan after Sydney attack
Summary
Director Danny Rivas told council the community safety department is meeting most performance measures, advancing a multifamily inspection pilot, pursuing unarmed alternatives, and implementing a Jewish community safety plan with increased patrol checks after the Bondi Beach attack; council asked about communications staffing, drones and distracted driving data.
The West Hollywood community safety director delivered a semiannual update Dec. 15 outlining the department’s priorities, performance metrics and in‑progress programs, and described steps staff took after an international hate‑motivated attack.
Danny Rivas, director of community safety, said staff tracks 11 departmental priorities tied to performance measures and presented calls‑for‑service data back to 2019. ‘‘We’re in our second year of [the multifamily proactive inspection] pilot — staff has essentially gone through about 50% of multifamily properties in the city and we’re on track to complete the four‑year cycle,’’ Rivas said.
Rivas reviewed the Neighborhood and Business Safety division’s work on code enforcement, vacant property enforcement (including the authority to issue demolition orders in certain cases) and a licensing/permitting case‑management upgrade. He reported that several measures are being met, including response‑time metrics for partner agencies, while some boxes remain unchecked: the unarmed alternative programs (community safety officer program) are still in development and public‑safety technology policies (including a drone‑as‑first‑responder program) remain under review with bargaining units.
Captain Fanny Lapkin of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said deputies increased patrol checks and contact with local Jewish organizations after the Dec. 14 Bondi Beach attack in Sydney. ‘‘We increase our patrol checks ... so the community feels that they’re safe,’’ Lapkin said, adding that crime analysts monitor online platforms for threats and that there were no known credible threats in the city.
Council members asked about communications staff for the sheriff’s station and whether nightlife businesses had been alerted; Rivas and Lapkin said a moratorium on adding non‑sworn positions with the sheriff’s contract has limited the ability to add a dedicated PIO and said deputies’ entertainment‑policing teams conduct foot beats and outreach with management and security staff. Rivas said the department will present a fuller, semiannual community safety update in February.
Council members also pressed on traffic collisions and distracted‑driving citations after public comment flagged recent crashes. Lapkin said the primary trend in recent collisions has been driver inattention rather than speed and cited 61 citations and 88 overall traffic collisions from the department’s recent report. Rivas said the security ambassador program continues to operate 24/7 and that staff will continue to address response‑time delays with contractors.
Public commenters suggested adding memorial signage at crash locations and improving visibility for security ambassador kiosks; council members asked staff to consider those ideas as operational matters moving forward.
The council received the update and scheduled the next semiannual community safety presentation for the first meeting in February.
