With Gray Davis warning us about possible terrorist attacks, and the heightened consciousness about security in general, it seems a bit preposterous for the LAPD to keep talking about a compressed workweek. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, the councilman from the inner-city 8th District, shares what seems to be the council’s general diffidence about the long-proposed and long-controversial idea.Unlike most other members, though, he wants to talk about it:“It‘s simply that it will be bad for my district. It will encourage more crime.” Ridley-Thomas’ strong stance on the workweek is unusual, since he doesn‘t sit on the committees responsible for bringing it into effect. He says that he just figures there’s already enough wrongdoing in his South Los Angeles district without flinging 12-hour, three-day workweeks into the equation. In other words, unlike its proponents, he thinks a compressed workweek will make for worse policing. “This is not about fighting crime,” he said. “This plan is an employee-benefit plan.”
Source: Giving In to Cops | L.A. Weekly