[img]1862|left|John Walsh||no_popup[/img]So LAPD Chief Charlie Beck cleans house, reassigning three of his deputies. Our website (hollywoodhighlands.org) issues this media challenge:
Take a midnight tour of Eric Garcetti’s “crime-free” Hollywood. Who is too chicken out there to take an unarmed tour of violent crime sites that occurred, according to Crime-Mapping LA, over the past month?
If you join us on our Midnight Crime Scene Tour, the best way to protect yourself from being attacked is wearing a good pair of running shoes.
Hoping to win the mayoral election two weeks from today over Wendy Greuel, The Little Prince sez you have nothing to fear as a post-midnight Hollywood pedestrian. Wanna trust Tricky Ricky with your life?
Chief Beck, coming in from the cold, asserts his ultimate authority over his officers that Charlie slowly was being robbed of by Mayor Antonio and, to a lesser extent, The Little Prince, Councilman for Hollywood. Both now are on their way out.
[img]1880|right|Police Chief Charlie Beck||no_popup[/img][Chief Beck flexes his muscles and takes advantage of a major power vacuum created by Villaraigosa, in the process of packing up his stuff for a June 30 departure, and by Councilman Garcetti, whose faltering grab for all the glory has resulted in The Little Prince no longer calling the shots at the LAPD Hollywood Division.
So Internal Affairs Top Cop Mark (PC) Perez, a Villaraigosa favorite, got booted out, to be replaced by Deputy Chief Debbie McCarthy, who is easily controlled by her Big Bro, Chief Charlie…
Beck's laudable main aim here is to undo the cumulative damage to the department-wide officer discipline system caused by Mark Perez’s off-the-mark – but politically-correct – form of wimpy officer-discipline, officially dubbed “Strategy Over Penalty.” That spawned last winter’s Dorner fiasco.
Dorner cold-bloodedly gunned-down an innocent someone connected to his touchy-feely defender who officially represented him at the LAPD Disciplinary Hearing. Nothing remotely akin to this point-blank murder had happened before the wimpy “Strategy Over Penalty” was installed.
Chief Beck claims his motivation for canning Mark Perez was solely to gain “fresh perspectives.”
“Fresh perspectives” my face.
The last four post-Bill Bratton years of Antonio's LAPD meddling on the highest levels of the department has worn away Beck’s fundamental authority over his own officers.
Beck is set to regain clout for his remaining five more years as Chief before the next mayor, or the mayor after that mayor, gets to appoint a brand new Chief.
Not so confidentially, Beck is a cinch to be reappointed next year for his second and final five-year term.
Look for the new West Bureau Deputy Chief just installed by Beck to yank Capt. Bea Grimala at Hollywood Division who ignores Hollywood crime on the rise while genuflecting and crossing herself while praying daily to The Almighty as well as praying to Mayor Antonio with a short little side-prayer to Hollywood Councilman Garcetti.
Capt. Grimala’s only crime-fighting accomplishment has been keeping coverage of the burgeoning Hollywood Crime Wave stats out of the mainstream media. Thanks, Bea.
The latest Hollywood crime wave evidence from Crime-Mapping LA shows an unidentified LAPD officer being assaulted with a deadly weapon at the corner of Las Palmas Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard at 1:05 a.m. Sunday. Does anyone care besides this rebel website?
Where's the news coverage? No damned story because Mayoral Candidate Garcetti, backed by the Los Angeles Times, has declared Hollywood a major crime-free Paradise. That lie serves as one of the major planks of the Garcetti for Mayor platform.
Poor muzzled crime reporter Richard Winton of the Times cannot breathe a word of business as usual: Cops playing politics at the New Parker Center with reporters and editors studiously looking the other way.
If all of the above is not accurate, hollywoodhighlands.org challenges every reporter and editor at the L.A. Times to call me out and destroy my credibility. I am waiting for your crushing journalistic blow that will forever destroy this website's good name and prevent us evermore from committing the unforgivable crime of upsetting the civic apple cart.
Do any reporters in L.A. have the guts to take an hour walking tour of Hollywood?
No cops to guard you. No concealed weapons to protect you.
The only protection you will be allowed to carry is Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti’s assurances that the new Hollywood he always is taking credit for is crime-free.
Any Saturday or Sunday, be our guest. Tour starts at the Capitol Records Tower and ends at Hollywood Boulevard and LaBrea.
Takers?
Mr. Walsh may be contacted at hollywoodhighlands.org
