Hollywood Entertainment District Executive Director, Kerry Morrison, to Receive LAPD's Highest Honor, LA Police Commission Distinguished Service Medal.

HOLLYWOOD -- Kerry Morrison, the Executive Director of the Hollywood Entertainment District Business Improvement District (BID) has been selected by the Los Angeles Police Commission to receive the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest civilian award given for exceptional service to the police department. Ms. Morrison will receive the award today at the Commission Hearing on June 7, 2005.

Commander Mike Downing (formerly Captain of the Hollywood Division) recommended Ms. Morrison for the award in recognition of her ongoing commitment to strengthening the relationship between the Hollywood BID and the LAPD, and for her significant community contributions, volunteering with groups like the Coro Foundation Leadership program, Police Activities League (PAL), People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) and the Blessed Sacrament Social Services Advisory Board.

For the past eight years, Ms. Morrison has served as the Executive Director of the Business Improvement District for the Hollywood Entertainment District, which spans more than 18 blocks along Hollywood Blvd. (from La Brea to Gower). In her capacity as Executive Director, she has reached out and partnered with city agencies, elected officials, neighborhood groups and youth and homeless serving agencies to extend her energy, focus and embrace to improve conditions, relationships and value to the community. She also supervises the BID's security services, provided by private vendor, Burke Executive Security & Investigations.

According to Downing, Ms. Morrison's partnership with the Department and particularly the Hollywood Division, has added strength, vision and stature to their crime-fighting mission and as a result, the Hollywood area is safer, cleaner, more economically viable and has become the entertainment center of Los Angeles. Examples of her partnership, service and results-oriented work include the following:

--For nearly 18 months, Ms. Morrison led the effort to ban silly string in Hollywood on Halloween night. For the past 15 years Hollywood Division has been plagued with problems on Halloween which required massive police deployment and the closing of Hollywood Boulevard. Tens of thousands gathered on the Boulevard where there were no planned City events. The use of Silly String would often erupt into violent criminal behavior, requiring the declaration of unlawful assemblies and aggressive crowd control techniques. After nearly 18 months of lobbying politicians, researching other city laws and working closely with the Department and Councilmembers Garcetti and LaBonge, the ban on Silly String was passed into law prior to Halloween 2004. The law changed the behavior of thousands along the boulevard and allowed the streets to remain open. Because of this action, deployment will be reduced by 25% in 2005, allowing greater policing efforts in other areas of the City. What this means to the City of Los Angeles is that nearly 400 police officers will remain in their respective Areas of policing instead of being deployed in Hollywood.

--As an Executive Board member of the Police Activities League, she was instrumental is raising over $128,000 in 2004 to keep the youth/crime prevention program alive.

--At the request of the Commanding Officer, Kerry Morrison took the lead on developing a state of the art wireless digital video camera system which was installed in the District in February, 2004. The system has already been effective in deterring crime, helping solve cases, and in one instance, catching a suspect shortly after committing a violent assault.

--Ms. Morrison is an active alumni and current Board Chair of Coro, Southern California, a non-profit organization that prepares leaders to deal creatively, ethically and effectively with the challenges of democratic self-governance, and gives members the tools to make responsible decisions in the face of change and ambiguity. Coro embodies the belief that an individual truly can make a significant difference in society. Kerry has used her skills in this arena to develop leaders and inspire leaders to accomplish even more.

--In June 2004, Ms. Morrison received the PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) Angel Award. This was in direct response to her ongoing support and outreach to social service agencies in Hollywood on behalf of the property owners. This relationship has greatly assisted the LAPD in ongoing efforts with homeless outreach operations.

--For the past two years Ms. Morrison has served as a member of the Blessed Sacrament Social Service Advisory Board, which provides access to showers, clothes and food for adult homeless men. In addition to fundraising, she has volunteered her expertise in non-profit management and helped guide them through the process of forming their own non-profit organization - allowing greater access to grant funds for the service in the future.

The Hollywood Entertainment District is a five-year property-based Business Improvement District (BID), comprised of 175 property owners who are assessed $2.3 million annually to pay for security, maintenance services and marketing to promote the revitalization of the area. Major landmarks in the District include the Kodak Theatre, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood & Highland, Musso & Frank Grill, the Pantages Theatre, the Roosevelt Hotel, Capitol Records and Frederick's of Hollywood. More information on the BID is available at www.hollywoodbid.org.