Unfinished tower blocks in Los Angeles that have become a destination for vandals, graffiti artists and BASE jumping thrill-seekers have cost 3,000 hours of police time so far, authorities said Tuesday.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said at a news conference Tuesday that the Oceanview Plaza Towers in a busy downtown area of the city had "strained our deployment."
"We have called in some officers on an overtime basis so that we can provide for these added patrols or station them at that site to deter vandals and others from gaining access to it while also ensuring that we meet the minimum deployment requirements for stations across the city," he said.
Moore spoke after video of a man parachuting from the top of one of the towers went viral Monday, prompting an urgent safety warning from Mayor Karen Bass.
Video shared on Instagram appeared to show someone paragliding from the top of the towers.
"People being in that building is extremely dangerous," Bass told NBC Los Angeles. "I guarantee you tragedy will take place there if that place is not boarded up quickly,"
Police patrols are monitoring the towers 24 hours a day after it emerged that 30 floors of the towers had been covered in graffiti, with 18 people being arrested there since Feb. 1.
The towers began construction in 2015, but by 2018 money had run out, and building work stopped in 2019 after the developer went out of business, NBC Los Angeles reported.
"We do think that unfortunately it has become an iconic location to draw and for nefarious acts," Moore said, referring to the graffiti. He added that some of those arrested were from out of town.
Moore said that the owner of the tower had gone bankrupt but that efforts were underway to recoup the costs of the extra policing.
Next week, the City Council will consider a motion to spend $3 million on installing a new fence, clearing debris and possibly hiring private security guards to alleviate the pressure on the police force.
Council member Kevin De León, who represents the area and tabled the motion, told NBC Los Angeles he had tried to contact the China-based developer by phone, email and social media but had not managed to make contact.
CORRECTION (Feb. 14, 2024, 11:40 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the first name of the Los Angeles police chief. He is Michel Moore, not Michael.
