By Sarah Calams
LOS ANGELES — About 200 additional LAPD officers will now patrol the Hollywood Boulevard area in response to an increase in violent crime.
The additional officers will join their LAPD colleagues who have already been increasingly sent to the area over the past seven months to deal with petty thefts, robberies, shootings and homicides, ABC7 reported.
“That’s really basically about 200 more officers out on the street here on Hollywood Boulevard,” LAPD Deputy Chief Blake Chow said. “They’re going to be on foot; they’re going to be in patrol cars; they’re going to be on horseback; they’re going to be on bikes.”
During an anti-crime event on Wednesday, L.A. councilmember Mitch O’Farrell sent a clear message to offenders, saying, “If you come here to commit crime, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, you will be jailed or imprisoned. There is no permissiveness in Hollywood. We’re not going to permit or tolerate that.”
However, hours before the event, a street robbery turned into a shooting just one mile away from the conference’s location. The victim was listed in critical condition and the shooter remains on the run, according to LAPD officials.