 |
 |
|||||
|
||||||
|
|
The murder |
|||||
There is another war being fought, equally as lethal, on the streets of Los Angeles County. |
||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the interest of public awareness, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, has developed this website as a method to educate the citizens of Los Angeles County of the potential violence that lurks within every community in this county. The problem of violent crime is more than a police problem, it is a community problem. Through this website, you will be afforded the opportunity to join, in partnership with your law enforcement officers, a program to identify and apprehend violent offenders who prey upon our communities. The murder rate in Los Angeles County has surpassed that found in the cities of New York, Chicago and Detroit, cities that enjoy a much larger ratio of police to citizens than is the case in this county. Only a fraction of the murders that are committed on a daily basis in this county are reported in the news media. Annually, hundreds of our citizens meet a violent death, but die anonymously, known only to their families and friends, and the overburdened homicide investigators who seek justice for them. Many law enforcement professionals believe that motion pictures, television programs and some contemporary music with themes of violence have desensitized the public to the specter of violent death. The information you are about to view will present numbers you may find staggering. If you choose to utilize the links to specific law enforcement agencies, it may bring a name, and in some cases a face, to those who have died at the hands of others in this county. |
||
| . . . bring a name, and in some cases a face, to those who have died at the hands of others in this county. |
||
| In California, the Coroner of each county is responsible for determining the Cause and Mode of Death in a variety of circumstances, including criminal homicide. Sometimes that determination requires extensive forensic examination and analysis, which often takes weeks to complete. These examinations insure that no homicide, no matter how clever the killer, will go undetected; and that non-criminal deaths, no matter how suspicious they may have initially seemed, will not result in someone being unjustifiably charged. |
||
| 'information that you are about to view should be considered “raw data,”. . . |
||
| The information that you are about to view should be considered “raw data,” the same type of information that is provided to the Sheriff and the police chiefs of every city in this county on a daily basis. Those of you who visit this site regularly may note a slight fluctuation in the numbers of reported murders, both in totals and specific geographic areas; that fluctuation can be attributed to this system of forensic examination and determination. Americans have become used to dealing with the threat of terrorism on national level, and we have all experienced some anxiety during periods of heightened threat levels. Americans have been saddened at the deaths of many of our military personnel in combat far away from our shores. There is another war being fought, equally as lethal, on the streets of Los Angeles County. It is time that these “combat deaths,” the result of gang violence, domestic violence, robbery, sexual predators, random acts of violence and the increasingly common serial killer are recognized. |
||
| It is time that these “combat deaths,” the result of gang violence, domestic violence, robbery, sexual predators, random acts of violence and the increasingly common serial killer are recognized. | ||