Take a look at our special report on education in this issue. We’ve never done a report like this before. Although education is the focus, it has a big business bent to it. In our report, we take a look at connections between the business community and educational institutions in the Valley. As we found out, there are a lot of connections. And that’s great to see, because one thing business owners and managers can agree on is that having an educated workforce is first and foremost. Some things we found out that I think are worth highlighting here: There are some companies locally that have some pretty impressive tuition reimbursement plans for their employees and in some cases employee dependents. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Northrop Grumman and Sage Publications were judged the best locally. For the most, these are large companies with large resources and in the case of Sage, it’s a company that is focused on education in the first place. But I think all three of these firms can be models for others. It shows what can be done. As you look at our profiles for our winners of our first Education Leadership Awards which were presented at an event on Oct. 4, you’ll also see that there are banks and community organizations that put their money where there mouths are in providing scholarships, student loans and funds to our local universities. Education and business connections run deep in some industries. For instance, in the entertainment industry which relies so much on creativity and training, we found that even some small firms find ways to successfully train and mentor their workers so that they stay and move up the ranks. Police Response LAPD Deputy Chief for the Valley Michel Moore was quick to respond to an item in this column from our last issue where I addressed the recent spate of restaurant robberies across the Valley. Moore says he agrees with my call for the business community to become more actively involved as the police look for these bandits, but he thinks all these robberies need to be put in the proper perspective as to whether there is a huge spike in crime in the Valley. Here are some stats he gave. As of Sept. 23, there have been 2,078 reported robberies in the Valley compared to 2,042 two years ago. That’s not much of an increase, I will agree. There have been 50 restaurant robberies in this recent spate the past few years, but by far the most robberies in the Valley are so-called “street” bandit” robberies. That’s when someone is robbed just walking down the street, usually of cellphones or i-pods or things like that. Those robberies account for 75 percent of all robberies. As for LAPD resources being put to the capture of the restaurant robbers who have sent a chill throughout the Valley business community, Moore says there is a full-time team of two detectives assigned to these crimes. That’s a huge allocation of resources for just 50 crimes, he says. Resources are also being taken for these robberies from other areas of the LAPD that would be going to solve property crimes. Moore says they’ll catch the crooks and it’s one of Chief Bratton’s priorities. But businesses need to cooperate, he says, and adopt better business practices. Don’t let huge sums of cash mount up throughout the day. A restaurant that does this will get knocked off several times when word gets around the robber community that there are piles of money there. Simple things like better lighting in parking lots, locking side doors that are often left open and the immediate reporting of suspicious people that could be “casing” the place have become absolutely necessary, he says. “We have the best minds on this,” Moore says. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected].
