[img]1640|right|Arthur Christopher Schaper||no_popup[/img]Based on internal reports, according to the Associated Press, the LAPD is directing officers to lay off arresting Angelenos for misdemeanors, instead directing them to issue mere infractions.
Memos reveal that 91 misdemeanors will be reduced, offenses including possessing or purchasing alcohol as a minor, drinking in public, gambling, defecating in public, trespassing and not having one's dog vaccinated for rabies. Harbor-area residents – Harbor Gateway, West Caron and Harbor City – should be concerned about the sudden and subtle policy changes.
Moreover, the diminution of criminal penalties can provide Republicans with an opportunity not only to press on the quality of life issues affecting all South Bay residents, give them an election issue. Republican organizations can brandish their more libertarian credentials on crime prevention and control. Republicans in Harbor area can expose a number of problems associated with state-sponsored micromanaging on one hand while holding mainly Democratic lawmakers in Los Angeles and Sacramento accountable for arbitrary budget cuts that neglect to enforce key quality of life issues. On the other hand, conservatives can reach out to libertarian elements as well as minorities alienated by excessive police force by championing a reduction in the overcriminalization of California's penal code.
The LAPD's cost-cutting measures emerge in the wake of budget crises gripping Los Angeles, reductions hitting the South Bay with greater severity. Over the past few years, such misdemeanors commonly were reduced to infractions by the Los Angeles city or district attorneys. Instructing patrol officers to back off on arrests and bookings will eliminate wasted time and money. Conservatives should be leading on these issues. Republicans in the South Bay can play up their support for efficient crime prevention as well as more effective forms of retribution and rehabilitation.
Why Not Try This?
Instead of arresting a minor for alcohol use, a diversion program following an infraction would permit the youth (and his parents) to work on recovery from substance abuse. Drinking in public – should that even be a crime? Some libertarians argue for removing drunk-driving checkpoints. Instead of looking for drunk drivers, the police should focus only on stopping dangerous drivers, they claim, since they pose the more manifest threat to the well-being of our communities. Other victimless crimes, such as gambling, should not be subject to criminal penalty anyway.
To reduce certain misdemeanors to infractions will spare younger voters. College students are facing crippling cuts in their education, both at the community college level and in statewide universities. Some already have engaged in petty crimes, like loitering or breaking curfew. Instead of officers cluttering their records with misdemeanors, Republicans can applaud the LAPD's decision to reduce such offenses, keeping them out of the books.
The blunt instrument of state force never should have wielded so many penalties in the first place. Republicans can hammer this point, too. From Gov. Brown's first two terms in Sacramento until the late 1990s, California voters supported tough-on-crime legislation that instituted mandatory sentencing and enhanced sentencing. The Three Strikes initiative culminated this drive for enforcement. Republicans can fault Democratic lawmakers for overcriminalizing and overpenalizing. This is a policy move appealing to libertarians, limited government advocates in general, and some young voters.
Don’t Tread on Me
Tom Bristow of the Beach Cities Republicans believes the LAPD is making a “huge mistake” with the trespassing penalty.
“We are dealing with personal property at that point,” he said. “If a private citizen does not have any say as to what happens to his personal property, or who is allowed on it, that is the beginning of collectivism.”
Granted, police must enforce the sanctity of private property. Republicans in the South Bay should call out police for enacting their discretionary policies without input from the City Council or Neighborhood Councils in the Harbor region.
On a related note, Republicans campaigning in the Harbor area can assail Sacramento for closing courthouses, making it harder for residents to enforce their property rights and maintain law and order. In the original charter following consolidation, Los Angeles city leaders promised San Pedro residents their own courthouse so that for future litigation they would not have to travel 22 miles to downtown Los Angeles. The journey was made worse with the traffic congestion that bottles up Harbor Area residents further still. The San Pedro courthouse will be closed, nevertheless.
Los Angeles area residents should contact their legislators on these issues. Crime prevention was a winning issue for Republicans in the 1970s. In 2014, following the mandated release of 10,000 prisoners from California prisons, plus the forced reduction of 91 misdemeanors in Los Angeles, South Bay Republicans can expose the present dangers to Californians because a tax-and-spend, regulate-frustrate, regressive-progressive Democratic government has crippled public safety.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A lifelong Southern California resident, he currently lives in Torrance.
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