City of LA to hire private security for graffiti towers

The city of LA approved a new plan that will allow private security guards to help monitor abandoned construction sites -- like the “graffiti towers.”

The council’s vote was unanimous this morning, and just the latest step in a lengthy process of cleaning up the towers and keeping vandals out.

In a 13-0 vote, the council approved changes to the way the city enforces building standards – the biggest of which is hiring private security to monitor buildings that in the city’s words have become “a present, imminent, extreme and immediate hazard or danger to life or limb, health and safety.”

The update applies to not only oceanwide plaza, but other abandoned properties that have become targets for vandals.

Those property owners would then have to reimburse the city for the cost of that private security.

LAPD has spent thousands of hours patrolling the towers, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“For LAPD to be outsourced, quasi outsourced, as a security team to secure the perimeter of these buildings, at this moment, it’s not sustainable,” Councilmember Kevin de Leon said. “LAPD is a trained, professional police force. They are there to protect and serve the city of LA, not to protect and babysit buildings.”

Construction on the partially-completed high-rise development across from the Crypto.com arena started in 2015, but came to a halt in 2019 when funding ran out.

Since then, graffiti vandals have tagged nearly all 30 floors of each tower. 

A video of a base jumper paragliding from the top prompted the city to build a 10-foot-tall fence around the complex in February. That price tag is $1.1 million dollars.

LAPD has reduced its presence at the towers but they cannot pack up just yet. The council would have to vote on what a private security plan would look like and how much it might cost before they can get boots on the ground.