We recently reported that the area around the Los Angeles Police Department Skid Row station resembles something from the Dark Ages, with cases of flea-caused typhus and other potentially deadly diseases infecting some of its officers.

The LAPD is now using future-tech to battle the Medieval conditions plaguing its staff.

The Los Angeles Police Dept. on Friday unveiled a robot at the Central Station that was brought in to battle one of the station’s biggest foes — germs. The Central Station is where an employee last month contracted the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. In response, LAPD Chief Michel Moore has introduced “Light Strike,” a robot designed to eliminate germs from an entire room. “The cleanliness and safety of this facility has always been a challenge and a concern of LAPD,” Moore said.

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The robot is called LightStrike and is part of a suite of corrective actions taken after officials levied multiple fines for rodent infestations and other unsanitary conditions at the Central Division station.

The unsanitary conditions in the 42-year-old building became the source of growing anger last month, as some officers threatened to seek transfers and city leaders scrambled to address the problems. The board of directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the police labor union, said last month that “officers worry enough about being shot or injured policing the streets of Los Angeles” and shouldn’t fear taking home infectious diseases. …In May, the California Department of Industrial Relations issued citations for six violations and a $5,425 fine to the LAPD and two violations and a $1,910 fine to the city Department of General Services, records reviewed by The Times showed. In November, among the violations at the station on East 6th Street, according to the state, was that the LAPD did not train employees about how the dangerous bacterial disease typhus is transmitted, its symptoms or measures for prevention. The department also did not have a program to exterminate and control rats, fleas, roaches, gnats, mosquitoes or grasshoppers in the building. Inspectors found all those in the facility, records show.

Ironically, the maker of “Lightstrike” (Xenex Disinfection Systems) is a Texas Company. Its unit can reportedly disinfect an entire patient room in as little as 20 minutes​. The LAPD intends to use it within the station.

The LAPD is now taking name suggestions for the new addition. Among the proposals are comments remarking on the conditions that led to the purchase of the system.

History is made! Never before has a germ-zapping robot been deployed in a police facility in this country. Much needed to address the hazards of working in #SkidRow Special thanks to the @MayorOfLA Now we need to name the robot…. we are taking suggestions! pic.twitter.com/6zA8VzDQHE — Commander Marc Reina (@LAPDMarcReina) June 28, 2019

Stop-gap comes to mind. Have you guys thought about telling the powers that be their policies have only increased the problem or is it against LAPD policy to speak truth to power? — Tim (@Xcathdra) June 28, 2019

That’s not a badge of honor. It means your facility is disgusting. It put cops in danger in their own station. Before they even went 10-8 to face the known dangers. — hello (@uhohrexy) June 29, 2019

Hope it kills bubonic plague. Whomever allowed the station to fall into such disrepair should be reassigned from command to latrine attendant. Disgraceful and harmful to everyone who enters this major police facility @Sal_LaBarbera @KnockoNolan @LAPDGND @LAPD0714 @OfficerDunphy — LOST TIME ΩΛ (@Swohtz) June 30, 2019

In conclusion: It appears that Texas is solving the problems California creates.



