Following a series of high-profile “smash-and-grab” robberies at some of the most expensive retail stores in the country, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has decided to “do something about the problem.”
Bass is falling back on the favorite ploy of politicians when confronted with a problem that resists easy solutions. She’s forming a “task force” to deal with the problem.
“The new force will include law enforcement agencies from multiple Southern California areas, including the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, agents from the U.S. Marshals Apprehension Task Force, and the FBI Apprehension Task Force” says the Washington Examiner.
Coordinating cops, sheriffs, marshals, and FBI agents to get dozens of perps off the street is one thing. That’s doable in the short term. But who will lock these barbarians up and ensure they don’t just continue their lives of crime?
“In New York, 327 people accounted for one-third of the shoplifting cases last year. Collectively, they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told the New York Times.
Addressing the “order” part of the equation is fairly straightforward. It’s the “law” part of the problem that requires a much firmer hand.
“These are not victimless crimes — especially in the case where Angelenos were attacked — through force or fear — as they did their jobs or ran errands,” Bass said. “No Angeleno should feel like it’s unsafe to go shopping and no Angelenos should feel like it’s unsafe to open a business in Los Angeles or Los Angeles County. This task force will aggressively investigate these incidents and hold individuals that are responsible for these crimes fully accountable.”
Los Angeles’s notorious liberal prosecutor, George Gascon, is a large part of the problem. His lenient application of bail laws has released many of these smash-and-grab thieves back onto the street within hours of arrest.
“I call myself a bleeding heart liberal, anti-gun and voted for Gascón because I thought he was going to be sensible and make reforms like he promised,” said one former Gascon supporter who wanted to remain anonymous because she is involved in Democrat party politics.
“Since he took office, it has just been the opposite to a point where we feel like we can’t walk in our own neighborhoods anymore,” she said. “We are f—ing terrified because these start out as low-level crimes, but it has gradually exploded. These criminals are not getting prosecuted and they know it. It’s off the rails.”
It’s become so bad in California that in-store security guards rarely intervene and simply step aside to allow the crooks to leave unmolested. And even employees in Gascon’s office are fearful of walking around downtown.
Sources in Gascón’s office told The Post even his own staff feel unsafe, after a female employee was attacked by a homeless man earlier this year as she was walking to her commuter train at the Downtown LA Union Station after work.
Shortly after that incident, the office implemented a transportation program in March where a third-party vendor would be brought in to provide security to and from the city’s Hall of Justice to the Civic Center area, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.
“Security incidents involving aggressive confrontations initiated by members of the public have occurred to our employees assigned to the Civic Center area, while walking between their vehicles or transportation area and the office,” the memo said.
Someone should inform Gascon that most members of the general public don’t have security escorts going to and from work.
Mayor Bass has given the police a new contract adding several hundred officers to the force and will give officers a nice increase in salary. And violent crime is down slightly from last year while property crimes have remained flat.
But that’s not the general public’s perception, and the perception of criminals is that doing the crime will not result in doing the time. Both perceptions are completely valid, despite the numbers.
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