State of the City Address

(Cont'd. from Pg. 1) and related crimes like the theft of catalytic converters remained higher in 2022 than five years ago across the nation, including in Lakewood.

The city worked hard in 2022 to keep crime as low as possible, said Yordt, with a special focus to combat auto-related thefts, with the City Council implementing a $400,000 Neighborhood Safety Enhancement Plan that included increased hours of Deputy Sheriff patrol time, highly-visible overnight patrols by Security Guards contracted by the city, and rebates to residents who install home security video systems or anti-theft devices for catalytic converters.

Yordt described how the city will add to those efforts in 2023 with a new program to provide Sheriff’s Department tips to businesses for crime reduction, and increased outreach to local homeless people to encourage them to accept services for help but also coordination with the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station to prevent illegal encampments or behavior by homeless people.

Lakewood will also maintain the extra public safety services it provides that many cities its size do not, such as the Sky Knight helicopter patrol and a team of Community Safety Officers who handle non-injury car accidents and provide crime scene fingerprinting and other services that allow Deputy Sheriffs to spend more time on patrol and responding to calls for service. The extra CSOs are one reason why Deputy Sheriff response time in Lakewood is consistently faster than the average in L.A. County.

See the full remarks by city officials at www.lakewoodcity. org/SOTC. ♦