War on Drugs Takes a Toll on the L.A. Justice System
Limited resources could be better used elsewhere.
By Brady Sullivan
Brady Sullivan is a deputy public defender in Los Angeles.

October 25, 2003

Some members of the Los Angeles City Council are supporting a tax increase to hire more police on the grounds that the city is "seriously underpoliced."

This is simply not true.

People who work in the Los Angeles criminal justice system are well aware that the central problem with the LAPD is not a shortage of police officers but a misallocation of personnel. Instead of fully policing the most violent, gang-infested parts of the city, a vast number of officers are toiling away in the futile "war on drugs."