Man subconsciously photographed while completing a photo essay entitled, “The Pomonas”.
Photography by Julian Lucas 2018
Text & Photography by Julian Lucas
The city of Irvine CA is considered one of the safest cities in CA with a crime rate of 15 to 1000 residents or 1.5%. The population is 303,956 with a police force of only 232 officers. Irvine has double the amount of residents and operating with 68-70 more police than Pomona. Yet, Irvine is considered one of the safest cities where you rarely see any officers patrolling.
The city of Pomona is considered a high crime city with a crime rate of 38 to 1000 or 3.8%. The population is only 152,405 (2020) with 164 (2018) said to be below the national average of 1.59% according to Daily Bulletin. The article also stated then Chief Oliveri was 84 officers short. So lets say Pomona was to hire 84 new officers. That would make a total of 248 police, which is more than the number of officers in the city of Irvine, in a city of only 152,405 residents with a median income of 52k before Covid-19.
Dennis aka Cowboy has been a part of the photographic process for the last 9 years.
Photography by Julian Lucas 2015
Having resources such as cities like Irvine and Torrance, always creates a better and equitable community. Looking at the city of Torrance CA, the 2018 crime rate in Torrance, CA it is said to be 151, which is 1.8 times lower than the national average. It was higher than in 55.3% U.S. cities. The 2018 Torrance crime rate fell by 10% compared to 2017. There are 227 officers of the Torrance Police Department on staff, and the city has approximately 145,438 residents.
Image photographed 18 years ago. The location is at Second St. and Parcels.
Photography by Julian Lucas 2002
When look at the actual meaning of “defunding the police”, it simply means reallocating money to the community to develop or create resources, which would create a positive environment for the community.
Provided are the salaries of the Pomona Police Chief and PPD sergeants, which includes overtime and benefits according to Transparent California report of 2018.
A more recent image, included in the series, “The Pomonan”
Photography by Julian Lucas 2020
The city of Pomona cannot jail itself out of the structural problem it created. Over saturating the city with more and more police will have no effect on crime. it will actually continue to perpetuate the systems in place. Criminalizing individuals with mental illnesses, drug addiction, and homelessness will continue to perpetuate poverty machine within our community. It will also again make the city look less and less attractive than it already does.
Licensed clinical therapists, credentialed social workers, and more resources all around would be more effective and beneficial to the citizens of the community.
Julian Lucas, is fine art photographer, photojournalist, and creative strategist. Julian also works as a housing specialist which, includes linking homeless veterans to housing. Julian has lived in Chicago, Inglewood, Portland, and the suburbs of Los Angeles County including Pomona.
