LAPD Veteran: Study Linking Closed Pot Shops, Violence 'Makes No Sense'
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A study released this week by the RAND Corporation that claimed violent crime decreased in neighborhoods where marijuana dispensaries were not shut down is getting a hazy reception from the Los Angeles Police Department.
KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou reports at least one 31-year LAPD veteran is unconvinced by what he calls a lack of credibility.
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LAPD Detective Robert Holcolmb with Devonshire Divisions Narcotics Section said the data reviewed in the study is too limited to properly extrapolate any solid findings.
The focus on a .3-mile radius around the stores for only a 10-day period in June of last year when pot shops city-wide were closed is not sufficient grounds on which to assert any real statistical relationship, Holcolmb said.
"Their premise was since crime stayed flat around the closed locations and decreased around the open locations, they saw that as an increase of crime around the closed locations and that makes no sense," he said.
The contention that pot shops are magnets for crime are based on month-long LAPD Compstat crime reports coupled with anecdotal reports of crimes involving pot shops that the owners fail to report for fear of police shutting down their operations permanently.
