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ALPERN AT LARGE - Imagine that California used to be a place where crime was NOT acceptable or tolerated.
Imagine that California used to be a place where career criminals were tossed out of the lives of honest, law-abiding citizens.
Imagine that California used to be a place where it was increasingly understood that misdemeanors were recognized and understood as different from felonies, and that the former needed kindness and compromise, but the latter needed (gasp!) punishment.
Imagine that the Manson Clan who killed innocents were going to live out the rest of their life in prison (after all, what fate did their hapless, miserable victims get?). But we’re just so “nice now”.
So imagine when we’ve got Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major Californian cities seeing the police treated like criminals and “bad guys”, while the career criminals are the “victims” (and that includes the homeless who choose crime, and aren’t just in need of mental health treatment) .
So is it ANY surprise that the LAPD Union leadership is now telling their officers to work where they are respected?
Homelessness going up?
Stores shutting down and locking away their essentials to avoid shoplifting?
L.A. on its way to becoming S.F. and chasing away tourists and hotels and businesses?
Mental health workers and LAPD officers having to debate who sees which 911 calls, because both departments are underfunded?
Well, imagine what life would be without those terrible racist, evil, and bullying cops who USED to be considered as heroes…you know, those horrible men and women in blue?
Because those who just have a hatred towards cops in general (more than just a few bad eggs who need firing, or even jail time) are the ones who should be leaving.
Those who romanticize criminals who should be in jail or tossed out of the city are staying, and the cops are now considering which city, county, or state to which they should flee.
And in a city where City Hall has its own disproportionate number of political career criminals, are we really surprised when “all bets are off” with respect to following the law?
Are we really surprised, therefore, when we make the law-abiding out to be “suckers”, and those who are lawbreaking out to be children who need to be cuddled and coddled…
…that the police and many (throughout the political spectrum) are bailing from the City of the Angels?
Does L.A. really want to be a Southern California counterpart of San Francisco as an example of how a city is NOT supposed to be run?
Talk to the cops we’re so regularly decrying, or at least try to before they disappear from our once-lawful society.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
