As the Los Angeles Mayors race starts heating up, one of the top issues is restoring the Los Angeles Police Department, which suffered $150 million in cuts made by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the woke city council in June of 2020. Some may recall news video of Garcetti kneeling with Black Lives Matter protesters the day before the vote. Soledad Ursua of the City Journal reports the while the City Council told the public that the funds from the cuts would be reinvested in non-white and disadvantaged communities, city officials later reported back that the money was being earmarked for street sweeping, tree trimming, storm drains, speed bumps and other services unrelated to the disadvantaged or reducing crime. In the eighteen months since the cuts were made Los Angeles has suffered an unprecedented rise in murders, assaults, carjackings, commercial and residential burglaries. This crime spike and the police-officer-to-citizen ratio in Los Angeles now roughly half of that of Chicago or New York City, the candidates for Mayor are being asked how they would address the issue if elected.
As Ursua notes:
“As Los Angelinos prepare to vote for a new mayor in primary elections this June and in the general election this November, LAPD hiring has become a top policy question among the frontrunners, all Democrats of varying shades of wokeness. Congresswoman Karen Bass and current city attorney Mike Feuer—engaged in a competition for the liberal and progressive vote—have taken minor steps to pivot away from the more radical party base by indicating that they would hire 200 and 500 more police officers, respectively. Councilman Kevin de León, meantime, has held firm, pledging that he will not increase LAPD staffing.
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, the former LAPD commissioner who changed his party affiliation to Democrat prior to launching his campaign, and city councilman and former LAPD officer Joe Buscaino are competing for moderate voters concerned about the deterioration of public safety. Both have said that they want to hire 1,500 more officers, bringing LAPD’s sworn force to about 11,000.
With crime reemerging as a top concern, L.A. voters are not likely to forget the disastrous effects of “reimagining” public safety and defunding the police. Given a chance for a fresh start, they should weigh their mayoral choices seriously. Meantime, the LAPD has warned residents that wearing expensive jewelry in public could make them a target for thieves. As Mother’s Day approaches, some may postpone their plans to buy mom a Rolex and get her a Ruger instead.”
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