Bratton concedes Skid Row migration

(photo courtesy of Al Seib / LAT)

By Duke Helfand
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 3, 2007

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton acknowledged today that an aggressive public safety initiative to clean up downtown's Skid Row has lowered crime but shifted some of the district's homeless and mentally ill residents to other parts of the city.

"Is there some displacement? Certainly," Bratton said at a news conference where he and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa touted the drop in crime. "But what's wrong with that in some respects?

"Why should one square mile of the city be impacted by something that's effectively a countywide problem? So if there is displacement, all well and good. Other people can see some of what ... the misfortunate people that have had to live in Skid Row have been experiencing."

Read the full article over here.