Los Angeles Times Wants Unarmed Civilians To Enforce Traffic Violations

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

How can L.A. stop traffic deaths? Let civilians enforce traffic violations, study says

.....Most traffic enforcement in Los Angeles should be done by civilian workers...Those are the conclusions of a long-delayed report from the city transportation department that has yet to be released. The Times reviewed a draft of the document, which is being produced by an outside firm and has been in the works for nearly three years, since the City Council first raised the prospect of removing traffic duties from the Los Angeles Police Department....

...Some transportation safety advocates say persistent traffic violence, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, shows that the city needs to crack down harder on reckless driving. Supporters of criminal justice reform argue for a less punitive approach. They say those communities have historically borne the brunt of over-aggressive policing, which they contend hasn’t made the streets any safer....And they allege that, even when such encounters don’t end in violence, the fines that often result can send people into spiraling debt....

...While the city could build on the existing Vision Zero model, the report said, it should be less reliant on law enforcement....The city could, for example, use unarmed civilians to enforce “safety-related traffic violations” .....At the same time, the city should consider “means-based” fee models....for traffic violators, measures that “advance traffic safety objectives and do not perpetuate enforcement disparities.”

....The debate over the role of law enforcement in traffic incidents stretches back decades but intensified in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020 at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis and the ensuing nationwide reckoning in which critics challenged some long-held assumptions around policing.....LAPD Chief Michel Moore said that ....any changes must be weighed against “safety risk issues” posed in certain traffic encounters....Even if Los Angeles wanted to put traffic enforcement into the hands of civilians, the assumption is that under the state vehicle code, such duties could only be handled by licensed peace officers. But the report argues that there are “plausible legal arguments that the vehicle code does not limit the City’s discretion in this area.”

.....Any next steps would probably require state legislative action, the report said. Policymakers would also need to get buy-in from communities that were “disproportionately burdened” by “high fees and privacy issues” and by past attempts at automated traffic enforcement, such as Los Angeles’ defunct and controversial red-light camera traffic enforcement program.....aims to send unarmed representatives to certain traffic incidents, instead of police, as the city works toward its goal of reducing racial disparities in traffic stops....

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-09/long-delayed-plan-to-have-civilians-not-police-make-traffic-stops-set-for-release

 

 

 

**********

 

This is a pretty interesting topic. The woke hard left leaning activist LA Times wants unarmed civilians to essentially replace actual law enforcement by doing traffic stops and enforcing traffic violations

1) The training disparity between the average sworn LEO and a possible civilian "advocate" is staggering.  Vehicle stops are not simple tasks. 

2) There is the legal liability issue. Anyone you stop could be from anywhere and in any condition, including as a potential threat to public safety

3) The vehicle you stop or hope to stop is still a potential weapon, a possible threat to the civilian advocate and any other innocent people nearby. What happens if the person you pull over is a criminal and armed? Or mentally ill and dangerous? 

4) The end result will likely be that the general public won't take traffic enforcement seriously anymore, which is going to make an already bad roadway situation in many major cities even worse. 

5) You cannot, in good conscience, send unarmed civilians out there to do a job that has been normalized in our society to have always been handled by armed trained law enforcement officers. I get many traffic stops are hotly contested points of scandal or controversy, however you don't mitigate these conflicts by basically sending likely naïve and untrained civilians into a situation where many will likely end up being killed. 

6) There are simply some areas in our society and culture that cannot be focal points to try to beat down what is perceived as "racial disparity" and "socio-economic disparity"  

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

 

[League Champion 1,896]

People still live there, how? 

[Voltaire 5,181]

 

It's the Lassard method. There can be some difficulty but Citizens on Patrol was a great Police Academy movie.

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

The Baltimore Prosecutor’s Plan to Decriminalize Crime

.....In late March, Baltimore’s chief prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, stepped to the microphone and triumphantly announced: “Today, America’s war on drug users is over in the city of Baltimore. We leave behind the era of tough-on-crime prosecution and zero-tolerance policing.” Mosby will also allow prostitution, trespassing, open alcoholic containers, urinating and defecating in public, and “attempted” drug distribution....The state’s attorney presides over America’s big-city murder capital, with one out of every 300 residents murdered under her six-year watch. Mosby is convinced that the cure to Baltimore’s violent ills is to legalize open-air drug markets, street-corner brothels, and above-ground sewers....

....In fact, the year before Mosby took office, Baltimore logged 211 murders in a city with a population under 600,000 and falling. That equates to a homicide rate of 35 per 100,000 residents. It has climbed past 300 for each year Mosby has been the chief prosecutor, hitting 348 killings in 2019, for a rate of 59 per 100,000 — a 65 percent increase since 2014....Last year, with 335 murders, the city clocked in at 57 homicides per 100,000 — twice the rate of Mexico and three times as high as Guatemala and El Salvador. That still shows a 59 percent murder increase under Mosby.....

....Under Mosby’s tenure, violent crime did not fall. In fact, it skyrocketed by 33 percent before last year. And that’s because she’s not very good at her job. While she publicly claims an astounding 93 percent felony conviction rate — 85 percent for homicide, 91 percent for gun crimes, and 98 percent for narcotics — she fails to mention that those numbers exclude cases that she dismissed while claiming credit for convictions on a lesser charge, including in homicide cases.....She drops or loses more than 40 percent of her felony cases and fails to prosecute and imprison gun offenders. Shockingly, in 2018, Mosby secured convictions for only 18 percent of “felon in possession of a firearm” cases — a known precursor offense to violence. Even worse, of those convicted, most don’t see the inside of a jail cell for long, or even at all, despite Maryland’s statutory five-year minimum sentence. An analysis by the Baltimore Sun showed that 43 percent received less than a year in jail and 13 percent got no jail time at all.....

....Mosby, a self-declared “progressive change agent,” says she is being persecuted for her politics....Previously, she attacked the city’s inspector general for reporting that Mosby, who earns $240,000 a year, was on undisclosed exotic and luxury junkets (e.g., all-expenses-paid trips to Kenya and Portugal) for 20 percent of her work days in 2018 and 2019. Never mind that it was Mosby who requested the probe to clear her after the media discovered discrepancies in Mosby’s filings.....

https://www.mdpolicy.org/research/detail/the-baltimore-prosecutors-plan-to-decriminalize-crime

 

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby Facing Perjury and False Mortgage Application Charges Related to Her Purchase of Two Vacation Properties

....According to the four-count indictment, on May 26, 2020 and December 29, 2020, Mosby submitted “457(b) Coronavirus-Related Distribution Requests” for one-time withdrawals of $40,000 and $50,000, respectively, from City of Baltimore’s Deferred Compensation Plans.  In each request, the indictment alleges that Mosby falsely certified that she met at least one of the qualifications for a distribution as defined under the CARES Act, specifically, that she experienced adverse financial consequences from the Coronavirus as a result of being quarantined, furloughed, or laid off; having reduced work hours; being unable to work due to lack of childcare; or the closing or reduction of hours of a business she owned or operated.  In signing the forms, Mosby “affirm[ed] under penalties for perjury the statements and acknowledgments made in this request.”  The indictment alleges that Mosby did not experience any such financial hardships and in fact, Mosby received her full gross salary of $247,955.58 from January 1, 2020 through December 29, 2020, in bi-weekly gross pay direct deposits of $9,183.54....

....Further, the indictment alleges that on July 28, 2020 and September 2, 2020, as well as on January 14, 2021 and February 19, 2021, Mosby made false statements in applications for a $490,500 mortgage to purchase a home in Kissimmee, Florida and for a $428,400 mortgage to purchase a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida.  As part of both applications, Mosby was required to disclose her liabilities.  Mosby did not disclose on either application that she had unpaid federal taxes from a number of previous years and that on March 3, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had placed a lien against all property and rights to property belonging to Mosby and her husband in the amount of $45,022, the amount of unpaid taxes Mosby and her husband owed the IRS as of that date.  In each application, Mosby also responded “no” in response to the question, “Are you presently delinquent or in default on any Federal debt or any other loan, mortgage, financial obligation, bond, or loan guarantee,” even though she was delinquent in paying federal taxes to the IRS....

If convicted, Mosby faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of two counts of perjury and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for each of two counts of making false mortgage applications....

https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/baltimore-city-state-s-attorney-marilyn-mosby-facing-perjury-and-false-mortgage

 

******

How do you think this will turn out? Big Blue Cities that have "leadership" that has been long standing hard Blue without much of a challenge from Conservatives and Republicans? How will it end up to have unarmed poorly trained civilians to attempt to do traffic stops? 

Look at Baltimore. The city is suing car makers for the raw amount of car theft there. But doesn't account for the woke radical leftist activist public policy that enables criminals to thrive. While the public administration pathway was led on by an indicted clearly criminal Democrat who called herself "a progressive change agent" 

Want to stop so many car thefts? Actually go after them and then actually put them in jail and prison and then keep them there. 

Instead the plan seems to be to sue car makers instead. Instead of what? Clearly instead of accountability. 

LA seems to want to follow within that same hard Blue idiotic pathway. Can't take responsibility for their insane policies that enable crime and career criminals. That creates a massive burden on local law enforcement. So instead call all cops as racists and bigots and send unarmed woke civilians to go out and get massacred while burning tax dollars in what amounts to a plan that everyone knows is openly ludicrous. 

[Flipper 60]

Maybe they're just doing what they were paid (under the table) to do ...

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

Former NYC First Lady Told Residents To ‘Physically Intervene’ To Stop Street Harassment

....Two years ago, the wife of New York City’s then-mayor told residents to stand up for fellow residents to stop street harassment, including by “physically intervening” – an act for which Marine Daniel Penny was taken into custody for on Friday....In March 2021, during the height of the “Defund the Police” movement and concern about racist attacks against Asians, Chirlane McCray — the wife of then-mayor Bill de Blasio and co-chair of New York City’s Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity — wrote that people should take things into their own hands.....“As attacks on Asian American communities continue, we’re asking New Yorkers to show up for their neighbors and intervene when witnessing hateful violence or harassment. I know that can be frightening when you aren’t sure what to do or say, but you can learn....” 

.....She shared five tactics for “interrupting” the harassment, including “Direct: Respond directly to the aggressor or physically intervene ..... Be confident, assertive, calm.”....Her remarks were even shared in the military publication American Military News, where Penny might have seen them.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nyc-first-lady-told-residents-to-physically-intervene-to-stop-street-harassment

[easilyscan 857]

On 5/11/2023 at 3:45 AM, Blue Horseshoe said:

 

ATTN Bigfoot fans:

New sighting starting at 6:10 

[RLLD 4,143]

This should go very well....  

[nobody 2,557]

This reminds me of the story awhile back where some agent of change told residents to go out and talk to their neighbors that were causing problems instead of calling the police.  Some woman tried that and was promptly shot.

[RLLD 4,143]

48 minutes ago, nobody said:

This reminds me of the story awhile back where some agent of change told residents to go out and talk to their neighbors that were causing problems instead of calling the police.  Some woman tried that and was promptly shot.

Yeah, I know right?  These people are completely out of touch with the people out there.  I keep hearing them say defund the police and fund social workers....that will get alot of social workers killed of course....just stupid..

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

 

San Francisco pilot program diverts 911 calls about homeless from police to new street crisis team

.... San Francisco will take a different approach when dealing with non-emergency calls involving the homeless. Rather than involve police, a street crisis team made up of Urban Alchemy workers will act like first responders....Think of an urban alchemist as a school hallway monitor. There are about 853 of them scattered throughout areas that need the most attention.....Now the most experienced ones, about 25 people, will be part of a one-year pilot program called HEART, Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team...."We do well in uncomfortable situations," he said. "I 'm comfortable being uncomfortable because I don't see an angry person, I see a hurt person, I don't see a violence, I see trauma and that's what we're going to bring, that kindness that relationship."

https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-homeless-engagement-assistance-response-team

[TBayXXXVII 2,481]

On 5/16/2023 at 2:19 PM, RLLD said:

Yeah, I know right?  These people are completely out of touch with the people out there.  I keep hearing them say defund the police and fund social workers....that will get alot of social workers killed of course....just stupid..

Don't forget, it'll be Republicans' fault too.

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

L.A. County wants to curb riskier fentanyl use. Its approach worries some activists

....By a line of ragged RVs slung along 78th Street in South Los Angeles, a seven-member team passes out glass pipes used for smoking opioids, crack and methamphetamine....Part of the front line of Los Angeles County’s offensive against the deadly fentanyl epidemic, the group hands out other supplies: clean needles, sanitary wipes, fentanyl test strips and naloxone, medication that can reverse an overdose...

....These “harm reduction” supplies keep drug users alive and safe from infection and transmission of diseases including HIV and Hepatitis C, members of the outreach team say, and the pipes help them switch from injecting to the relatively safer route of smoking drugs....“It’s like a business card saying, ‘When you want hope, come to me,’” said Chris Mack, a longtime outreach worker with.... a clinic that refers clients to groups that distribute such supplies. “We’ve been killing people with this prohibition.”

....Fentanyl, which is laced in everything from weed to heroin and meth, was present in more than half of the nearly 1,500 overdose deaths of homeless people in 2020-21. In response, Los Angeles County this year increased its harm reduction budget from $5.4 million to $31.5 million....These and other residents say harm reduction, which in some form has a 40-plus-year history, albeit largely underfunded, hasn’t worked, and they see the pipes as hurrying homeless people along to their destruction.....“I wouldn’t get pipes to give them out myself,” said Skid Row organizer Manuel “O.G.” Campito, who went through recovery in the ’90s. “You know Dr. Kevorkian assisted suicide? That’s pretty much what it is.”

....The kits include three glass pipes, with design variations to accommodate the ways crystal meth, crack and heroin are smoked, Mims said. Meth pipes are called “pookies” and crack pipes “straight shooters.” Some pipes come with lollipops for dry mouth.

....Oscar Arellano, program manager for the HOPICS team, said he does not condone selling the harm-reduction supplies, but sharing them is encouraged....“They’re the first responders,” Arellano said. “We’re not condoning. We’re supporting.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-30/desperate-to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-officials-are-distributing-drug-pipes

 

 

[JustinCharge 2,397]

what they are really saying is 

1. defund the police
2. fund antifa as social workers.

[Voltaire 5,181]

19 hours ago, Blue Horseshoe said:

 

 

L.A. County wants to curb riskier fentanyl use. Its approach worries some activists

....By a line of ragged RVs slung along 78th Street in South Los Angeles, a seven-member team passes out glass pipes used for smoking opioids, crack and methamphetamine....Part of the front line of Los Angeles County’s offensive against the deadly fentanyl epidemic, the group hands out other supplies: clean needles, sanitary wipes, fentanyl test strips and naloxone, medication that can reverse an overdose...

....These “harm reduction” supplies keep drug users alive and safe from infection and transmission of diseases including HIV and Hepatitis C, members of the outreach team say, and the pipes help them switch from injecting to the relatively safer route of smoking drugs....“It’s like a business card saying, ‘When you want hope, come to me,’” said Chris Mack, a longtime outreach worker with.... a clinic that refers clients to groups that distribute such supplies. “We’ve been killing people with this prohibition.”

....Fentanyl, which is laced in everything from weed to heroin and meth, was present in more than half of the nearly 1,500 overdose deaths of homeless people in 2020-21. In response, Los Angeles County this year increased its harm reduction budget from $5.4 million to $31.5 million....These and other residents say harm reduction, which in some form has a 40-plus-year history, albeit largely underfunded, hasn’t worked, and they see the pipes as hurrying homeless people along to their destruction.....“I wouldn’t get pipes to give them out myself,” said Skid Row organizer Manuel “O.G.” Campito, who went through recovery in the ’90s. “You know Dr. Kevorkian assisted suicide? That’s pretty much what it is.”

....The kits include three glass pipes, with design variations to accommodate the ways crystal meth, crack and heroin are smoked, Mims said. Meth pipes are called “pookies” and crack pipes “straight shooters.” Some pipes come with lollipops for dry mouth.

....Oscar Arellano, program manager for the HOPICS team, said he does not condone selling the harm-reduction supplies, but sharing them is encouraged....“They’re the first responders,” Arellano said. “We’re not condoning. We’re supporting.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-30/desperate-to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-officials-are-distributing-drug-pipes

 

 

Democrats being Democrats.

Unsurprisingly, they put a Patrice Cullors 2.0 in charge of LAHSA with a massive budget and got negative results.

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

FOX45 News presses Mayor on Baltimore city's youth curfew van vandalized with volunteers inside

...."We know that vandalism happens everyday,"  said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott when asked about the city's youth curfew van which was vandalized with volunteers inside. According to City Hall, vandals shattered the rear window of the van as it was attempting to park. A city spokesman says, at the time, volunteers inside were attempting to engage young people on Denham Circle in Cherry Hill. The volunteers then retreated to the C.C. Jackson Community Center in Park Heights to debrief...

"Here you have someone trying to pick them up at night in a white van!" said Kinji Scott.

So far, police have made no arrests.....Baltimore's new curfew enforcement strategy has been the target of critics who complain it's putting untrained volunteers in harm's way. The van was placed out of commission until repairs could be made. "Anyone who volunteers is going to be putting themselves in harm's way," said Activist Jovani Patterson.

"This isolated incident will not deter our efforts to carry out positive curfew engagement," said a Mayor's spokesman.

https://foxbaltimore.com/amp/news/city-in-crisis/mayor-addresses-vandalism-to-youth-curfew-van

[jonmx 2,424]

As long as they pass out the appropriate brown shirts it is all good.   We are becoming a nation of goose-stepping bastards. 

[Voltaire 5,181]

1 hour ago, Blue Horseshoe said:

 

FOX45 News presses Mayor on Baltimore city's youth curfew van vandalized with volunteers inside

...."We know that vandalism happens everyday,"  said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott when asked about the city's youth curfew van which was vandalized with volunteers inside. According to City Hall, vandals shattered the rear window of the van as it was attempting to park. A city spokesman says, at the time, volunteers inside were attempting to engage young people on Denham Circle in Cherry Hill. The volunteers then retreated to the C.C. Jackson Community Center in Park Heights to debrief...

"Here you have someone trying to pick them up at night in a white van!" said Kinji Scott.

So far, police have made no arrests.....Baltimore's new curfew enforcement strategy has been the target of critics who complain it's putting untrained volunteers in harm's way. The van was placed out of commission until repairs could be made. "Anyone who volunteers is going to be putting themselves in harm's way," said Activist Jovani Patterson.

"This isolated incident will not deter our efforts to carry out positive curfew engagement," said a Mayor's spokesman.

https://foxbaltimore.com/amp/news/city-in-crisis/mayor-addresses-vandalism-to-youth-curfew-van

"Hey kids, you need to stop playing basketball and be off the street by 9:00 PM. Get in the van, we'll take you to our curfew center."

"We're not the police, we're city of Baltimore volunteer curfew enforcers."

"No, we're not kidnappers either. You can trust us. We'll give you cookies and a place to stay."

"Hey, KIds! No! No! Stop that!"

"Put that away!"

"Hey! No!"

"Go! Go! Go! Hit the gas! Hit the gas!"

[seafoam1 2,799]

1 hour ago, Voltaire said:

"Hey kids, you need to stop playing basketball and be off the street by 9:00 PM. Get in the van, we'll take you to our curfew center."

"We're not the police, we're city of Baltimore volunteer curfew enforcers."

"No, we're not kidnappers either. You can trust us. We'll give you cookies and a place to stay."

"Hey, KIds! No! No! Stop that!"

"Put that away!"

"Hey! No!"

"Go! Go! Go! Hit the gas! Hit the gas!"

It's why certain people don't have a good history of running anything successful. 

It's not in their genes. Look around the world. It's always turmoil and failure when they run things.

 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

[Tree of Knowledge 1,697]

Timmay and Squidward are both in LA area? Can they try a couple shifts implementing liberal policy and report back to the group?

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

LA 'defund the police' councilman charged with perjury, embezzlement

.....On Tuesday, Los Angeles 'defund the police' City Councilmember Curren Price was charged with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury, and conflict of interest, the latest of local public officials to be accused of corruption from state or federal prosecutors.....In 2020, in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, Price launched a proposal to cut $150 million from the LAPD and to reallocate those funds to youth services for black and brown communities. He also championed the creation of a social services unit to respond to non-emergecy calls, and fought to eliminate the enforcement of traffic laws, stating that they disproportionately affected black Los Angelinos.

“Over the years, data has shown that Black and Latinx motorists are more likely to have an escalated interaction with a police officer than white people during routine traffic stops. This proposal demonstrates our dedication to restructuring the role of armed law enforcement in Los Angeles,” Price said at the time. “People of color should not have to worry about whether they’re going to be handcuffed in front of their children, slammed to the ground or make it back home to their loved ones when they get pulled over by the police. Now is the time to consider common sense police reforms that will give our communities of color peace of mind, security and a sense of relief.”

....According to a statement from the LA County district attorney’s office, Price allegedly had financial interests in development projects that he voted on, and received tens of thousands of dollars in medical benefits from the city for his now wife while he was still married to a different woman.....The district attorney’s office alleges that Del Richardson Price, the councilmember’s wife and founder of consulting company Del Richardson & Associates, received “payments totaling more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers before he voted to approve projects.”

.....The 10-year veteran of the City Council was charged with five counts of grand theft by embezzlement, three counts of perjury, as well as two counts of conflict of interest, according to a criminal complaint.....According to the Los Angeles Times, Price is the fourth current or former council member to face criminal charges in four years. The council has voted twice in the last three years to suspend other members facing criminal charges.....According to 2021 court records, Price voted to cut the price of a property sold to GTM Holdings from almost $1 million to $440,000 six months after a company incorporated by GTM Holdings wrote a check to his wife’s firm for approximately $51,000.....Price voted to fund a $4.6 million real estate project in 2019 involving developer Thomas Safran & Associates after his wife’s firm received checks totaling about $35,000 from a company incorporated by Safran, according to the complaint. The council member is also accused of defrauding the city of approximately $33,000 in medical premiums by listing Richardson Price as his wife on city forms from 2013 to 2017, despite the fact that he was still legally married to Lynn Suzette Green....

https://thepostmillennial.com/la-defund-the-police-councilman-charged-with-perjury-embezzlement

 

Curren Price is a current member of the Democratic Party. While indicted, Price will still receive his salary and benefits, paid for by California taxpayers. 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

LA Mayoral Candidate Karen Bass’ Free USC Degree Has Landed Her In a Federal Corruption Case

.....Los Angeles Mayoral candidate and Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA) found herself in a growing scandal Thursday amid allegations that a corrupt former Dean of University of Southern California (USC) had given her a $95,000 scholarship in exchange for helping pass legislation for more federal funding.....The dean in question, Marilyn Flynn, formerly was the dean of the USC social work program. Before the Bass allegations, Flynn had been tied to several other bribery scandals and allegations, including one with former Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Specifically, it has been alleged that, in early 2018, Ridley-Thomas gave $100,000 to the USC School of Social Work through his political campaign fund...

..... In turn, the school’s dean, Marilyn Flynn, sent the money to a think tank run by his son. However, this raised alarm bells, ultimately revealing that it was all a scheme for his son to get benefits from USC, such as a graduate school admission and a scholarship, in exchange for the elder Ridley-Thomas to support contracts between the County and USC. That led to the indictment of the elder Ridley-Thomas and Flynn by the US Attorney for the Central District of California in October of 2021.....

....And prosecutors soon zeroed in on Bass after an email from Flynn was found saying, “We will offer a full scholarship between the two schools. I did the same for Karen Bass – full scholarship for our funds.”....According to prosecutors, Flynn allegedly gave Bass a scholarship for a Master’s degree in 2011 in exchange for Bass helping pass legislation that would give more funds to private universities like USC for social work programs....

....“Bass needs to come clean about the whole thing,” explained Jan Ives, a Washington-based local election analyst, to the Globe on Thursday. “If she is completely innocent, great, but just explain how you got the scholarship, that it was based on merit. She just keeps issuing brusque denials, and that isn’t doing her any favors....Trading votes for a scholarship worth nearly $100,000 is a serious allegation......”

https://californiaglobe.com/fl/la-mayoral-candidate-karen-bass-free-usc-degree-has-landed-her-in-a-federal-corruption-case/

 

*******

Current LA Mayor Karen Bass is a member of Democratic Party. Her "free scholarship" also implies tax dollars. 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

LAPD's hiring process under fire, department accused of lowering standards

....Los Angeles Police Department officers, Los Angeles City personnel and people directly involved in the LAPD recruiting and hiring process are going public for the first time with their concerns.....James Williams, who supervised LAPD Police Background Investigations for 20 years.....Williams retired a year ago. He says after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, followed by massive protests across the country and anti-police sentiment, the LAPD began changing its recruiting process..... 

....."We were given direction to focus more on diversity candidates, which we always have; regardless of the candidate, the good ones always float to the top....I myself am a minority, and I completely believe in diversity in the department because that's what makes Los Angeles a great city, but we need to hire good, qualified candidates that can do the job....A lot of the people that are being hired right now should not be police officers....The LAPD started manipulating the standards and the guidelines, which was a major issue with me....."

..... other sources say the LAPD is making it too easy to be an officer because of a staffing crisis...."They're not waiting for the best possible candidate to come by; it almost feels like they don't have the time to do it; they want to meet the numbers now," one source said......When asked how the standards have changed, one LAPD insider says, "The physical fitness qualifier; you're supposed to have at least a 50% to get into the academy. We're now hiring people with 40%, 30%, and – in some cases – lower than 10% physical scores." 

https://www.foxla.com/news/lapds-hiring-process-under-fire-department-accused-of-lowering-standards

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Into Defunding the LAPD | Into America Podcast – Ep. 27  NBC News and MSNBC Jun 12, 2020  

‘Defund the police’ has become a familiar rallying call at protests across the country. It’s a call to reduce the size of police department budgets, in order to reallocate resources to other parts of the community. Last week, Los Angeles took a step in that direction when LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced his commitment to reallocate $150 million of the LAPD budget to communities of color in the upcoming fiscal year. This comes after years of attempted reform and decades of tension between the LAPD and the city’s Black population.

[League Champion 1,896]

 

https://twitter.com/Capturebycamera/status/1675004497771495425?s=19

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

California's Typhus Surge Is Linked to Fleas, Feces, and Bad Economic Policies

.....Typhus is on the rise in Los Angeles, with its epicenter in downtown, where the city’s sanitation officials are struggling to respond to the nearly two thousand “cleanup requests” they get from locals every month.....Like San Francisco, LA is struggling to clean up city streets of human waste—specifically feces—due to a lack of public restrooms and a growing homeless population.....There was an average of 700 requests in the area in the spring of 2016, but officials now claim they receive about 1,900 cleanup calls per month thanks to the number of growing homeless camps. But the growing homelessness and sanitation nightmares have led to yet another crisis: a rise in flea-borne typhus....Between July and September, county officials identified at least nine typhus cases that originated in downtown. At least six of the infected were homeless....

...The crisis, which has already made 64 victims this year alone, has deeper roots. At least, that's what 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger appears to claim....."When I drive through parts of my district and I see the living conditions on the street, it reminds me of a third-world country," Barger said....When it comes to land-use freedom, for instance, cities like Los Angeles have restrictive rules regarding housing supply and rent control, keeping builders from developing affordable housing and helping to artificially increase the cost of housing across the board....

https://fee.org/articles/californias-typhus-surge-is-linked-to-fleas-feces-and-bad-economic-policies/

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

LA police union boss tells cops to leave the city: ‘Go somewhere that understands your worth’

....The vice president of a Los Angeles police union encouraged officers to ditch the city and find work elsewhere during unsuccessful salary negotiations with the city....."Go somewhere that respects the work you do and you don’t have to beg for a great contract....Go somewhere that has a city council or city manager that openly acknowledges the great work you do, go somewhere that doesn’t have two or more City Council members who hate you (no exaggeration)....."

....The LAPPL represents the city's roughly 9,000 police officers. The city has already lost 1,000 officers since 2019....Meanwhile, crime and homelessness are spiking in California's largest city. Democrat Mayor Karen Bass signed an updated declaration of a state of emergency on homelessness last week, granting her additional powers to expedite the process of building more housing, call for the emergency service of city employees and coordinate citywide planning to respond to the homeless crisis....

https://www.foxnews.com/us/la-police-union-boss-tells-cops-leave-city-go-somewhere-understands-your-worth

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[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

‘Mob of criminals’ stole up to $100k worth of merchandise at Los Angeles mall, police say

......A “mob of criminals” stole up to $100,000 worth of merchandise from the Westfield Topanga Shopping Center in Los Angeles Saturday afternoon....“Today at around 4 p.m., a mob of criminals stole items from the Topanga Mall with an estimated loss of $60,000 to $100,000,” the Los Angeles Police Department said on social media. “Topanga Division officers were on the scene quickly and have several investigative leads. To criminals, it is just property taken.” Multiple individuals wearing black from head to toe could be seen ransacking a store at the mall, carrying duffel bags, purses and other items past the broken glass on the floor, in a video posted by the police department. The crime has left the community with, “a loss of feeling safe,” police said.....

....“The LAPD will exhaust all efforts to bring those responsible into custody and seek criminal prosecution,” the department said. CNN has reached out to the police department and the Westfield Topanga Shopping Center for comment. In a statement, Mayor Karen Bass called the incident “absolutely unacceptable.”.....“Those who committed these acts and acts like it in neighboring areas must be held accountable,” Bass said. “The Los Angeles Police Department will continue to work to not only find those responsible for this incident but to prevent these attacks on retailers from happening in the future.”...A similar scene unfolded Tuesday in nearby Glendale, where police said thieves stole $300,000 worth of property in a “bold, flash mob burglary” at an Yves Saint Laurent store....“These ‘flash mob’ burglaries involve a large, coordinated group of individuals simultaneously rushing into the store, overwhelming staff, and taking it over. The suspects grab as much merchandise as possible before fleeing in multiple vehicles,” the Glendale Police Department said in a statement....

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/us/los-angeles-mob-steals-100k-mall/index.html

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It’s not just actors: Over 11,000 city workers will strike in LA on Tuesday

.....Over 11,000 Los Angeles city workers are planning to strike on Tuesday, according to the union that represents many of the city’s public-sector staff.....“Every single one of our workers in the city is a front line public sector worker that’s out there serving the public every day,” David Green, president of SEIU Local 721, told CNN. “A lot of it goes unnoticed. But on Tuesday, we’re going to make sure everybody notices”....SEIU 721, which represents more than 95,000 workers in Southern California, said members voted to authorize the strike after “repeated labor law violations” by Los Angeles city management. Trash truck operators, LAX shuttle drivers and mechanics, and port boat captains are among the workers planning to strike....

......“City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy. They deserve fair contracts, and we have been bargaining in good faith with SEIU 721 since January.....” .....Los Angeles is the epicenter of Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes that have brought the entertainment industry to a grinding halt, and the union representing 15,000 hotel workers, including cooks, room attendants, and front desk agents, has staged a series of rolling strikes in the city since the start of July. In Northern California, more than 4,500 San Jose city workers announced they will stage a 3-day strike beginning August 15, demanding pay that keeps up with living costs......

.....A massive economic disruption was narrowly avoided last month when the Teamsters union reached a tentative agreement with UPS on a new contract, potentially avoiding a strike by more than 300,000 UPS workers that would have potentially cost the US economy billions of dollars. The Teamsters membership now has to approve the contract by vote for the chance of a strike to be fully over....

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/07/business/los-angeles-strike-city-workers/index.html