Thucydides said:
As the Ferguson effect takes hold in more and more "Blue" cities, you will start seeing crus about how the police are abandoning the poor minorities to the criminals. Rising crime statistics in places like Baltimore are already demonstrating this.
Be very careful what you wish for, people. You might just get it good and hard.
As for the police, they are in a very bad spot right now, and while watching them withdraw from these areas might be a safe defensive move, the long term consequences will be very difficult to deal with. Once again, it is very difficult to say what the answer is.
Years ago I read, "To Protect and to Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams". Before the Rodney King riots, the sacred credo was, "Give no slack and take no sh^t from anyone. Confront and command. Control the streets at all times. Always be aggressive. Stop crimes before they happen. Seek them out. Shake them down. Make that arrest."
There was also this letter to the editor of the LA Times from a retired Lieutenant regarding what he referred to as the "Golden era" of the LAPD, ( prior to the Watts riots ), "Protect life, not enough personnel to protect property."
Chief PARKER deployed us heavily in South Central L.A., because "That is where the crime is." The Valley and West End complained they were paying for protection that was going elsewhere.
The facts may be difficult for the politically correct to comprehend. Blacks were then about 18 percent of the population in L.A., but committing over 65 percent of Part I crimes (Uniform Crime Reporting: murders, robberies, rapes, arson, etc.). Why? Sociological problems, education, dna....who knows? Most victims were fellow blacks, who appreciated and strongly supported LAPD. The South End was the only segment of L.A. that regularly voted for police pay raises and benefits. And we gave them the best service we could.
Starting in 1973, affirmative action & consent decrees changed LAPD culture from aggressively pursuing criminals to laying back in police cars, taking careful and lengthy reports, while gangs ran wild in the streets and portions of L.A. were terrorized by thugs.
When I was in the field in the 1960s, our 3,400 policemen (our Civil Service rank) arrested 100,000 more criminals than do today's 10,000 affirmative action wonders. (Attorney GARY INGEMUNSON in "Warning Bells," Thin Blue Line, July 2005, p. 13---Also L.A. Times of 13 March 1996, pp. B-1 & 3): A “distressed Mayor Richard Riordan...said it was vexing to learn that LAPD is now making 100,000 fewer arrests, issuing over 200,000 fewer citations, and conducting over 20,000 fewer field interviews per year.”
There is no “nice” way to arrest a dangerous and combative suspect.
Officers today are more concerned about getting burned and labeled as a rogue officer than being aggressive at confronting suspects. When were you safer, taxpayers, then or now...?
When the community fails to support its police in its proper and reasonable enforcement efforts, the police become demoralized and cease proactive enforcement. Doing nothing or devoting
inordinate attention to minor incidents and thus being unavailable to handle more serious calls has few consequences.....
