Law Abiding Angelenos are Restless

There’s an “Enough is Enough” reaction to the government lockdown that makes all of us feel like prisoners in our own homes.

Your savings are evaporating and your scheduled income from your job to support you and your family is now generated by government stimulus packages and unemployment checks. All other sources of monthly income have stopped, and your family is climbing the walls like prisoners trying to escape incarceration. The rent is due along with the car payment and the credit card charges. You must now wear a mask in public and wait in line to go to those few essential stores that are open for business with restricted hours. Places like the market, hardware store and my favorite place to shop, COSTCO. Can you buy 30 rolls of Kirkland Bath Tissue with 425 sheets per roll for only $16.99. I would never have imagined that there would be a run on T.P. and other “essentials” in my lifetime. As we all know, paper products are in high demand and sell out fast.

We lack the Liberty and Freedom we once took for granted. I never thought that our American way of life would be so drastically changed a worldwide pandemic. How this lockdown happened with the stroke of a pen by the elected officials we voted for to provide us with a good quality of life and the ability to engage in the Pursuit of Happiness.

As we enter the first part of May, there is some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel across America, in California, and cities like Los Angeles. In thirty-eight states, many cities and counties are starting to open slowly and return to some form of normalcy. While this will happen in stages with short steps before there is a full opening of our economy, recovery is not that far away considering what we have all experienced. Some locations in Southern California are moving faster than others. At any rate, it appears that movement is being talked about and baby steps to opening have begun.

While we will all be wearing masks in public and soon on airplanes as well as other places, we must all conform to the safety standard to keep us safe and able to avoid the deadly Covid-19 illness that is still taking innocent lives around the world.

Were you one of the lucky ones to buy a gun and bullets to protect yourself and your family?

I know there are many 2^nd Amendment believers in America that respect the ownership of a gun.

A few days before the Coronavirus lockdown, there were lines of people trying to purchase a guns and ammunition and some were able to obtain the protection. The reason I bring this subject up is because Props 47, 57 and Assembly Bill 109 have given the criminal element more rights and abilities to take advantage of the good people in California.

Now, a new twist to the ability of the criminal element to commit a crime, remain on the streets and out of jail. NO BAIL and NO JAIL after arrest for many criminal charges. Not only are criminals not being placed in jail after they are arrested for a crime, they are being released on a promise to appear in court. The LA County Sheriff has released hundreds of inmates currently serving time. As this trend continues, crime will increase, and we are all potential victims.

Watch over your surroundings and be careful.

(Dennis P. Zine is a former and retired LAPD Supervisor, former and retired 12-year Los Angeles City Councilman and current General Manager at Bell Canyon in Ventura County. Photo: LA Daily News. Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.)