Gang Problems In The Barrio? Let's Patrol the Amusement Parks!
We are all aware (except for the Chief of Police of El Pueblo de Los Angeles) that there are numerous gangs, who are at each others' throats over both race and turf. They battle, almost exclusively, within the poor neighborhoods--their own or those of their rivals. We rarely hear of much gang activity in Holmby Hills or Palos Verdes.
Imagine my ironic chuckle as I read this story in today's Los Angeles Daily News. The headline, "CityWalk In Cops' Spotlight," in which a large bit of our law enforcement dollar will apparently be spent.
"In an effort to stop a gang problem before it starts, police who patrol Universal CityWalk are getting extra help over the next month to keep the San Fernando Valley hilltop tourist attraction safe as the popular summer season heats up.So, in an effort to fight gangs, say police, money is being set aside to patrol CityWalk, to patrol what is essentially a very nice, Disney-like, restaurant and souvenir shop row adjacent to the Universal City Studios theme park."For years, the restaurant, entertainment and shopping strip bordering Universal Studios has been the kind of place Los Angeles-area gang members have brought their girlfriends - but not their guns, police say."
Never mind that Universal City has private security that rivals that of Disneyland. Never mind that, while gangsters frequent the place, gang crime within the CityWalk environs is quite rare. Rather than put our police out where the crime is, to combat that element of society which is a danger to us all, for which they're paid handsomely. Don't believe the propaganda that police are underpaid--Los Angeles police, if you consider their retirement and a long list of other benefits that are part of their remuneration, are paid quite well.
So, I'm sure that hard core gangsters are relieved that, as long as they avoid Universal CityWalk, they can pretty much do as they please. They can carry arsenals under their baggy clothes while honest individuals can be prosecuted for carrying a handgun to be able, one hopes, to do for themselves that which the police are not available to do.
They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!
Warm regards,
Col. Hogan
Stalag California
2 comments:
What the heck! Is this for real, this is like deploying the riot squad to the local retirement home because there's a crime problem on the other side of town. If i had come down in the last shower, i'd say this was hard to believe. But in this day and age, the stupidity of authorities never ceases to amaze me.
MK,
See, the mayor (el alcalde), is of Mexican descent, and was once part of a latino gang in LA. He thus has knowledge and sympathy for the latino gangs.
Being a Democrat, he also expresses sympathy for all of the "downtrodden," particularly of the non-white groups. Thus, gangs are fought much like the Bush administration fights the Mideast war: they fight crime in a way that doesn't actually harm the gangs.
Gangsters can have all the guns they want, but woe be to the honest individual who carries a gun for self defense. Etc, etc.
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