Like many parts of the country, some Los Angeles areas are experiencing serious increases in crime, especially assaults and robberies. In these “follow-home crimes,” the perps stake out fancy restaurants, nightclubs, expensive stores, and jewelry shops.
They then select certain patrons, especially females, say, wearing jewelry and expensive-looking clothing. They follow them to parking lots or their homes, wait until victims appear alone and unguarded ,and proceed to threaten and rob them.
Naturally, the L.A. Police Department took action. Not staking out areas to spot waiting stalkers. Not pouring highly-visible extra units into targeted areas. Not dispatching well-prepared decoy officers.
No, the robbery problem has grown so serious that the LAPD put out a public memo, yes, a “cooperate and comply” message to law-abiding citizens. It advised, among other crime-fighting tips:
If you are being robbed, do not resist the robbery suspects; cooperate and comply with their demands.
Our colleague Mike Miller had all the disappointing details here. Included in the police advice, for instance, was: “After a robbery, immediately call the police department by dialing 911.”
Law enforcement across the country has been under attack the last couple of years and may be a little hesitant to seem forceful. No doubt, police offering such advice to frightened citizens is clearly a good thing, if inadequate and rather obvious: “After a robbery, immediately call the police department by dialing 911.”
But it’s a rather passive strategy of addressing a wave of serious crime. And it’s not one likely to discourage the crime-wave’s growth and spread. Which – Hello, White House – is certain to affect next year’s midterm elections, now just 51 weeks away.
It’s also a “strategy” that’s spread well beyond California. So many Biden measures are upside down, making no common sense. Yet no one is blowing the whistle. He thinks, for instance, pumping even more newly-printed money into the economy will cure inflation.
While he accepts illegal activity as an “Oh, gee, look at that” fact of life and does nothing effective to staunch it.
Since Biden took office and named Kamala Harris to address root causes of the southern border crisis, hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have flooded into the country without restraint or vetting.
Instead, the Biden administration has quietly flown and bused these foreign lawbreakers to scattered cities around the country, purportedly to track them for later disposition. If you believe this will ever actually happen, I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Nuevo Laredo.
Now came word the Biden crowd is “negotiating” with thousands of these illegals to pay them each individual indemnities upwards of $450,000, more than a million dollars for some families, for alleged poor treatment at the border.
So, ignore our national borders, break immigration laws, dodge health screenings and mask rules, and we’ll “punish” you with immense cash payments of taxpayer funds.
While under Biden’s employer vaccine mandate, Americans who decline to get a COVID vaccination for whatever reason are set to lose their jobs and family income.
Earlier this fall, as another example, Joe Biden announced he was going to end cash bail for people accused of violent crimes.
According to the president’s thinking, this is necessary to improve social equity because why should people accused of violent crimes have to post cash bail, while other citizens can walk around freely without bail simply because they’re not accused of killing someone?
So many of these nonsensical actions are happening under Biden – for instance, withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan before evacuating thousands of Americans and endangered civilians – you have to wonder if all these seeming screw-ups are really coincidental.
During the pandemic, thousands of prison inmates across the country were released early. The stated reason: So they wouldn’t get COVID-19 in jail. Although the truth is they were just as likely to fall ill outside the prison. And – oh, look – being totally at liberty allowed some to commit new crimes, while they should have been serving time for previous crimes.
Earlier this month Joe Biden flew to a U.N. Climate Summit in Europe to, among other things, boast of all that he’s doing to cut U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases. He flew there in a Boeing 747 and took an entourage of half his cabinet, plus scores of aides that required three more government jetliners.
Also traveling there were an unknown number of passenger and cargo jets to ferry Secret Service agents and fleets of automobiles. In Rome, Biden’s motorcade contained 80 vehicles.
In California, state government jumped into action to address the environmental threat of tiny shampoo bottles in hotel rooms. All because, plastic. While local governments around the state, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, gave up on shoplifting. They announced publicly they would not prosecute such merchandise thievery under $1,000 value.
The result – gee, if only someone could have seen this coming – was a sharp increase in shoplifting incidents of goods valued under $1,000. So much so that Walgreen’s announced store closings from organized theft rings.
I was in an LA-area drug store not long ago when the theft alarm sounded. The manager — I’ll call him Bob — ran out the front door. There, a young couple waited patiently. The male handed back a couple items, including a stocking cap. The woman said nothing.
Back inside, I asked Bob if that happened often? Several times a day. “It seems organized to me,” he said. “The guy always has just a few little things. The girl probably had a couple hundred dollars of our makeup on her.”
Who do you report this to? I asked.
Bob looked startled. “No one! I have to be very careful.”
Careful? Why?
He said, “My bosses don’t want me making trouble for them over shoplifting that scares customers, and no one is gonna prosecute anyway.”
So, let’s get this straight. Two people steal goods worth at least a couple hundred dollars and walk. They’re free to fence the stolen stuff on the street or turn it over to gang leaders for a cut.
The only person facing any consequences is the law-abiding store manager, if he tries to stop the illegal activity or makes an issue over the lawbreakers. The rest of us will cover the losses in increased prices.
Too many things like these have already gone cockamamie in the America of Joe Biden’s presidency.