Don't miss New York Times Columnist Bob Herbert's Where Fear Rules the Street about the violence in South Central LA.

It's too bad that the Los Angeles City Council turned down Mayor James Hahn and Police Chief Bill Bratton's request for funds to hire additional officers.

The debate has centered on the allocation of $30 million, which Hahn felt should be used immediately to hire officers. The council majority believed it should go to provide insurance should the economy fail to recover as expected. The council says it will review the possibility of adding officers in January.

How many more kids will have been killed by then? While ordinarily we don't believe that hiring additional cops is an answer to the crime problem (versus spending money on prevention, education and treatment,) LA is a special circumstance. South Central is out of control, the murder rate is phenomenally high, and the conditions there are not safe for anyone.