Category: Law & Order

Portland’s ‘Gun Violence Task Force‘, previously the ‘Gang Enforcement Team’ is shut down….. gang crime “skyrockets”

‘Duh’

‘Where are we headed?’ Portland’s record-setting year for murder fuels search for answers

PORTLAND, Ore. – Pastor J.W. Matt Hennessee, a longtime local anti-gun violence advocate, never expected to lose his own child to the bullets he has tried to stop for almost four decades.

So when he got a call on May 13, letting him know that his stepson Jalon Yoakum, 33, was the latest victim in an onslaught of violent crime, Hennessee felt numb.

“This isn’t something where I’m new to the table,” said Hennessee, 62, who has battled gun violence in Portland for 40 years. “But I hadn’t worried about it, hadn’t thought about it, and when that call came …”

His voice trailed off.

“It’s not going away,” Hennessee said. “Jalon was victim No. 31 and there’s been (36) more from May to October. Where are we headed?”

Crime is up all over the country, and has been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. But there is a a certain sad irony in Portland, long considered a safe, desirable place to live. Already, the city has tallied 67 homicides for 2021, breaking a 34-year-old record of 66. Last year, 55 homicides was a 26-year high in the city.

The numbers alone are troubling, but even more worrisome when compared with other similarly sized cities, where violent crime numbers are considerably less, including Seattle and Boston. In Portland, long considered a liberal stronghold in America, some community leaders and officers feel that police defunding efforts in summer 2020 may have backfired, at least somewhat. With fewer officers on the street, violence has escalated significantly.

City defunds shooting prevention team

Portland’s gun violence problems can be traced back, at least partially, to the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. Floyd’s murder, at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, sparked a nationwide racial reckoning as hundreds of thousands took to the streets.

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 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott makes good on border security threat, authorizes state National Guard to make arrests of illegal aliens in historic first.

Earlier this fall, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, frustrated and angry at the Biden regime’s purposeful inaction on securing the border, stepped up and issued a threat: He will use his authority and empower his own personnel to start arresting illegal aliens in the absence of federal enforcement.

“By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border,” Abbott’s letter to  Texas Adjutant General Major Gen. Tracy Norris said in July, when he first issued the order.

USA Features News, which reported on the declaration at the time, added:

Last month, Abbott said during a summit to discuss border security that any migrants who criminally trespass into Texas or commit other offenses would be subject to arrest and jailed.

In addition, the GOP governor announced plans to build new sections of border wall so as to plug gaps left when President Joe Biden canceled federal wall construction begun under the Trump administration.

In arguing as to why National Guard members should be empowered to make arrests, Abbott noted in his letter that “more manpower is needed” to deal with the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have been crashing the Tex-Mex border since Joe Biden took the oath of office for a presidency that was stolen on his behalf.

In addition, Abbott explained that according to the Texas constitution, his powers as “Commander-in-Chief of the military forces” of the state grant him the authority to issue arrest powers to his Guard troops.

Abbott also “likewise recognizes that the governor can call on state military forces ‘to enforce state law’ and ‘to assist civil authorities in guarding [or] conveying prisoners,’” said the letter.

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Democrats to Cops in ’20: You’re Evil Racists And We Want To Defund You!
Democrats to Cops in ’21: We Need You To Enforce Vaccine Mandates.
Cops to Democrats: Get Stuffed!

After spending 2020 calling police “systematically racist” and trying to get them defunded (mainly so they could get their fingers on that money, suddenly it’s 2021 and Democrat-run cities and counties suddenly need police to be their vaccine enforcers. And police aren’t having any of it.

Take deep blue Chicago for example:

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has foolishly put herself—and the safety of the people of Chicago—in a game of chicken, with at least half the police force ready to defy her vaccine mandate and be sent home from work by City Hall without pay, rather than comply.

“She wants to play a game of chicken. Well, we’re in a semi. And she’s in a Smart Car. And she wants to play chicken?” said Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara told me on Thursday. “That’s her decision.”

I figure Chicago’s little Napoleon in pants suits caves by Friday. As I type this on Thursday evening, Chicago aldermen are calling, saying she’s already blinking on her threats of “no vaccine, you’ll be sent home without pay.”

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: She blinked. She did cave. After her repeated threats, she won’t withhold their pay and send them home if they don’t comply with her vaccine mandate. Lori, that’s no way to play chicken or poker. Her chicken little game has come home to roost. Cops have had enough. Now she’s pouting, driving up the ramp of the chicken coop in her little clown car.

If she didn’t cave, victims of weekend violence would blame Lightfoot because she put her ego ahead of public safety. The smart play was to cave and call it something else. Her media friends can spin it. She can even call it victory, if she wants. But she caved. And that weakens her even more.

(Hat tip: Rick Moran at PJ Media.)

Unions for police and corrections officers are suing over vaccine mandates in Allegheny County:

Across Allegheny County, public employees are fighting vaccine mandates but none as hard as those in law enforcement, which has suffered some of the highest losses from the disease.

The unions representing the county police and the corrections officers have gone to court to block the county’s order that all employees be vaccinated or be fired.

According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, 743 police officers have reportedly died of COVID-19, but while the FOP is encouraging officers to get vaccinated, the union opposes mandates, calling vaccines a personal health decision.

Seattle police are bailing as well:

The leader of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), which represents over 1,300 officers of the Seattle Police Department (SPD), is calling the COVID-19 vaccine mandate the latest in a long list of betrayals by the city of Seattle.

SPOG President Mike Solan said city leaders could accommodate officers who don’t want the shot and keep the city safe, but they are choosing not to do that. With just days until the mandate takes effect, Solan said now is not the time to force a vaccine on officers as the police department already faces a staffing crisis.

“Crime is surging in this city. Our community is demanding more police officers to answer the 911 calls, and the fact we’ve already lost close to 350 police officers because of the politicians’ political betrayal,” said Solan.

Solan said that before George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in May 2020, city officials called SPD a “model department” when it came to police reform. But he said the tables turned after Floyd’s death with some city leaders demanding massive cuts to the department.

Now, Solan wants Mayor Jenny Durkan to do what some other cities have done and allow officers who don’t want to get the shot the option to wear masks, get tested regularly for COVID-19, and not have their assignments changed.

“For some reason, this mayor is refusing that, which I think is unreasonable and is void of common sense,” said Solan.

It’s only illogical if you haven’t been paying attention. Every knee must bend to the holy demands of the Party and the State. Heresy against the narrative cannot be tolerated.

Los Angeles sheriff Alex Villanueva already announced that he was refusing to carry out the county’s mandate.

What happens to Democrat-run municipalities when the police refuse to carry out unconstitutional mandates?

Like many Democratic plans to immanentize the eschaton, they don’t seem to have thought a lot of the intermediate steps through…

 

Unvaxxed Seattle Police & Fire Dept Officers Fired, Several Go Feed the Poor

Be prepared to defend yourself and your family because it’s going to be a long time before a cop can get there. That’s not alarmist talk. That’s a reality.

~ Mike Solan, President, Seattle Police Guild

The enormous number of talented, experienced, dedicated workers who have been forced out of their jobs over a dictatorial president’s and some governor’s mandates is heartbreaking. It’s what this administration wants. It feeds into their ultimate goal. They want disobedient people gone.

According to the Seattle Times, 127 people have  “separated from employment” at the WSP, including 67 troopers, six sergeants, and one captain.

The Police department has already lost 300 officers, leaving 1000.

The city wants the police gone completely so this is probably fine with them. It will become a 3rd world hellhole.

Maybe BLM or Antifa can take the jobs.

 

That’s the equivalent of losing a whole 8 hour shift of police….in a city nicknamed ‘ChIraq’ because more people were being killed and wounded than in Iraq during the war there. ‘Spicy Times’ indeed and you can bet the chaos will be livestreamed

More than a third of Chicago police officers defy city vaccine mandate

About 4,500 Chicago police officers didn’t report their vaccination status by October 15 as mandated by the city, officials said Monday.

That means roughly 35 percent of the city’s 12,770 officers could be placed on no-pay status in the foreseeable future.
The Chicago Police Department had the lowest response rate of any department in the city, but of the about 64 percent who did report, the majority of officers say they are vaccinated, according to data released by the city. Specifically, 6,894 indicated being vaccinated while 1,333 reported they have not.
Those who said they are not vaccinated are required to opt into twice weekly testing for Covid-19 until the end of the year to remain in compliance with the city policy.
The city required employees to be either vaccinated or test two times a week by October 15, and then report their status by that same deadline. Those who did not report their status risk being put on unpaid leave.

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Very likely another Parkland Springs type shooting has been averted.
Maybe these fools in Florida will start treating these kids as the dangerous criminals they are instead of coddling them.

Teen killed by police while pointing ‘military-style rifle’ at drivers in Tarpon Springs

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. – Police in Tarpon Springs say a suspect, killed Saturday [?] for waving a “military-style rifle” at cars and officers, was actually a high school student with an Airsoft pellet gun.

17-year-old Alexander King was shot and killed by officers at the intersection of Pinellas Avenue and Tarpon Avenue shortly before 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

Investigators say police responded after multiple 911 calls about a “white male wearing dark clothing pointing a military-style rifle” at passers-by.

According to Chief Jeff Young, when the officers arrived, the suspect lifted the weapon, charged it, and pointed at the officers.

Video of the incident recorded by a bystander appears to show King yelling “shoot me” toward officers.

Taking cover behind a nearby vehicle, officers said they were forced to open fire. King was hit multiple times and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

King, a junior at Tarpon Springs High School, had 22 prior run-ins with police, 11 with other Pinellas County law enforcement agencies and 11 with the Tarpon Springs Police Department, including a felony arrest for battery on a school board employee in 2017 and one for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 2018.

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We need common-sense control — of criminals
The laws are there to protect us, but laws don’t stop criminals.

Last weekend’s shooting in St. Paul was a terrible tragedy, predicted by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher as he patrolled the area the night before. The knee-jerk reaction of Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Democrats in the Legislature could also have been predicted: Calls for universal background checks and red flags laws.

These reactions ignore the reality of the situation: Criminals don’t follow laws.

Democrats largely overlooked the death of another woman, in Minneapolis last week, who was hit by one of two cars involved in a rolling gun battle. Five Minneapolis children have been shot by stray bullets this year alone and they didn’t roll out the news releases.

But this event — a mass shooting — finally warrants comment.

Even more predictable and laughable is blaming Republicans for gun violence because we stand with law-abiding citizens and their right to own a gun for self-defense.

Our Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committeeheld hearings to review the current laws on the booksaddressing gun crimes in 2020. Several citizens wearing  “Moms Demand Action” T-shirts told me after the hearing that they had no idea we already had so many laws to address gun violence.

Those laws weren’t passed on a whim, hoping they would be followed. We didn’t debate the criminal code at length so it can be ignored. We pass laws to support the work of law enforcement across the state and provide justice for victims.

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US Judge Holds DC Jail Officials in Contempt Over Mistreatment of Capitol Breach Defendant

A federal judge on Oct. 13 held top Washington jail officials in contempt, finding that they violated a U.S. Capitol breach defendant’s civil rights by impeding his access to medical care.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, found Washington jail warden Wanda Patten and Department of Corrections Director Quincy Booth in civil contempt in a written order after expressing displeasure with them during a court hearing.

The order doesn’t include sanctions or penalties, but was being transmitted to Attorney General Merrick Garland for an inquiry into the potential civil rights violations of defendants charged in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, “as exemplified in this case.”

“It’s clear to me the civil rights of the defendant were violated by the D.C. Department of Corrections,” Lamberth said in federal court in Washington. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s a January 6 defendant or not.”

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How Leftist Prosecutors Contributed To 2020’s Massive Crime Spike
Prosecutors across the country have ceased prosecuting certain crimes in the name of racial and economic equity and social justice. This dangerous trend denies justice to victims and increases crime.

This is no wonder, when prosecutors across the country have ceased prosecuting in the name of racial and economic equity. From Los Angeles and San Francisco to the Eastern seaboard, city attorneys are declining to prosecute cases, denying justice to victims, and creating dangerous cities.

Just as critical race theory has bled out of the big cities into small and unsuspecting jurisdictions, so too might prosecutors with visions of “reimagining” the criminal justice system come to a town near you.

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BLUF:
This is another example of “rules for thee but not for me.” If “The Squad” truly believed defunding the police was a good idea, they wouldn’t hire off-duty cops for self-protection. ……….It’s time for them to sit down, shut up, and put their money where their mouth is. They should have to live like the rest of us, even if they are in the public eye.

No Surprise: ‘Squad’ Members Pay the Most in Private Security While Working to Abolish the Police

Over the last few years, “The Squad” – comprised of Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Cori Bush (D-MO) – have worked to “defund the police.” Although they continually say stupid things, like they want to “reimagining” what policing in the United States looks like, the reality is simple: they want to do away with law enforcement agencies across the country.

Americans across the country rely on two things to keep themselves and their families safe: law enforcement and/or their Second Amendment rights. When an emergency takes place, most people call 911 and know at least one law enforcement officer will be there to help them in their time of need.

What’s amazing – although not surprising – is “The Squad” wants to do away with emergency services for you and me. But that decision wouldn’t impact them. In fact, the five women have spent a large sum of money on local law enforcement officers for private security. That’s right. Our lives aren’t worth protecting but theirs are.

But the real kicker? They spent more than any other House members on private security.

The New York Post broke down their security costs:

In the two months between April 15 and June 28, Bush spent nearly $70,000 of her campaign funds on personal security, the most of any House lawmaker. That’s almost $20,000 above the median household income for residents in her district, which covers St. Louis and adjacent communities. Bush, who often wears a Black Lives Matter or a “Y’All Gone Stop Killing Us!” t-shirt, says she believes defunding the police would prevent the deaths of people like Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor. But it’s unclear who would stop the killing that would then ensue. Of the 130 homicide victims in St. Louis so far this year, half of whose residents are African-American, all but ten victims were African-American (98 men and 22 women). The vast majority of these involved firearms — not one fired by a police officer. …

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Tulsa’s latest 3 homicides occurred within a span of 38 hours, and each is considered justifiable

Self-defense claims are nothing new to the homicide detectives at the Tulsa Police Department, but to have three in a row that appear to be legitimate is, at the least, “strange.”

And to know the three killings were carried out in a mere 38 hours might just be something new — even to detectives who have spent more than a decade in the unit, Tulsa Police Lt. Brandon Watkins said.

“There’s a lot of people who claim self-defense,” Watkins said. “That’s usually the first refuge that people go to when they come in, but we look at the evidence.

“On these three cases, the evidence was compelling.”

The cases make up the 35th, 36th and 37th homicides to occur in Tulsa this year, according to Tulsa World records. Two of the victims died of gunshot wounds, and the third died after being stabbed; all in separate occurrences at the beginning of September.

Detectives released the names of the latter two victims on Thursday after previously releasing that of the first, which occurred about 4:15 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 2.

It was a shooting call in the 2100 block of North Hartford Avenue, and victim Isaac Weeks was found with a gunshot wound to his chest. He died at a hospital.

The 40-year-old had been at a birthday party thrown in his honor all throughout the day before, Watkins said, and he was likely intoxicated when he began waving a gun around in the wee hours of the night. His actions prompted a couple of guests to leave, but Weeks followed them and reportedly pointed his gun at a man, who shot him.

Watkins said the encounter was caught on surveillance footage, and the shooter turned himself in shortly afterward and was questioned before being released.

Police received another call later that evening: A homeowner shot and killed a man he said broke into his home, stole his belongings and attacked him.

The resident told police he received an alert that someone was attempting to break into his house in the 900 block of South Allegheny Avenue, and when he arrived at the address, he found a man later identified as Stevie Ashlock carrying items from his residence.

Ashlock reportedly began attacking the homeowner with a metal object when he called 911 and attempted to keep Ashlock from leaving the property.

The homeowner shot him in the torso about 5:10 p.m., and Ashlock, 34, died at a hospital. The homeowner suffered some scrapes, Watkins said, but no great physical harm.

The next day, a fist fight outside a convenience store at 49th Street and Yale Avenue turned deadly when a man pulled out a knife and stabbed another in the neck.

Joseph Sexton, 23, died of his injuries despite fairly quick medical attention, Watkins said.

“It was just a particularly bad wound,” Watkins said, indicating Sexton suffered an arterial bleed.

Watkins said the stabber and Sexton didn’t seem to know each other, but several witnesses along with surveillance footage pointed to Sexton as being the instigator of a fight.

“We don’t really know why the fight was being picked,” Watkins said. “But from what we’ve been able to pick up in interviews with people, (Sexton) just liked to fight.”

The man tried to hold Sexton off before eventually stabbing him, Watkins said. He fled the area, leading police to track him down in the days following, but Watkins said he was questioned and released.

This year hasn’t come close to producing as many homicides as the near-record amount of homicides Tulsa saw in 2020—this time last year, 58 homicides had occurred—but case complexity-wise, there is no break in sight, Watkins said.

Five “whodunits” out of the 37 cases detectives have received are proving to be especially challenging, but the investigations are ongoing.

“We never stop,” Watkins said

The lab management was pressuring staff to change their results and then they tried to get rid of evidence when they got caught.

DC abruptly disbands crime lab’s firearms unit

Months after the District’s troubled crime lab lost its accreditation, the city is moving to essentially disband a key unit of the troubled forensic agency, planning to lay off nearly a dozen staff members of the Firearms Examination Unit.

The city issued a reduction-in-force for all 11 remaining members of the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences’ firearms unit. They were officially informed of the move Wednesday, instructed to clear out their desks and walked out of the building.

Employees will be paid through Oct. 18 but were placed on immediate administrative leave. The employees are represented by the National Association of Government Employees.

DFS Interim Director Anthony Crispino did not meet with any employees or inform them of the agency’s plans ahead of time — or make any broader comments to remaining DFS staff about what appears to be a significant restructuring of the agency.

In an emailed statement to WTOP, Crispino said the department is “fully engaged in efforts to regain its accreditation and bring the laboratory back online for the residents of the District of Columbia. The department followed all required reduction-in-force procedures, to include prior written notification to the labor union pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement. A reduction-in-force is not a decision taken lightly, but one that is necessary to ensure a path forward for DC’s independent forensic laboratory.”

A reduction-in-force means the agency is abolishing positions rather than laying off particular staff members, and it usually means the agency has no plans for refilling them. Such reductions are not related to an employee’s job performance.

DFS did not provide a reason for the move to the 11 affected employees. However, lack of work and an agency reorganization or realignment are both reasons a reduction in force can be issued, according to the District Personnel Manual.

“We’re all blindsided,” said one employee who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the personnel matter.

The employee called the sudden plan to lay off the entire unit the “ultimate betrayal” since only a few weeks ago, rank-and-file DFS employees met with members of an outside consulting firm and provided ideas about what changes they would make to reform the agency.

The shake-up at the lab comes after a national accreditation board, in an unprecedented move, suspended and later withdrew the entire crime lab’s accreditation to perform forensic testing amid a widening series of scandals involving lab leadership, including a criminal investigation by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General.

The suspension largely sidelined the ballistics unit as well as other units that analyze DNA, fingerprints and digital evidence. Since April, outside labs have been handling the DFS caseload.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, which is handling the District’s firearms cases, moved several of its staff members into office space at DFS headquarters last month.

The D.C. lab’s troubles came to light last spring, after a team of experts retained by federal prosecutors and the D.C. Office of the Attorney General issued a scathing report alleging senior managers both within the firearms unit and the broader agency concealed conflicting findings and may have pressured employees to alter conclusions after the discovery of a ballistics error in an ongoing murder case.

In May, former agency director Jenifer Smith resigned amid calls for a change in leadership from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and D.C. Council member Charles Allen.

Over the summer, the lab saw a number of other officials depart, including the former manager of the firearms unit, whose handling of the unit came under scrutiny in the experts’ report.

The agency has been working to repair its damaged credibility, hiring the outside consulting firm, SNA International, to conduct what has been described as a “top-to-bottom” review of the lab’s problems with the goal of regaining accreditation.

This summer, Interim DFS Director Anthony Crispino told members of a science advisory board that advises agency leaders, that the D.C. leaders are now interested in restoring accreditation for individual units of the lab sooner as they deal with “deeper-seated issues” in the Firearms Examination Unit and the Latent Fingerprint Unit.

In any case, the lab is not expected to regain full accreditation until early 2022, he said.

 

Man faces [a new] felony gun charge less than 48 hours after having gun case dropped in “restorative justice” court

Friday was a big day for 21-year-old Armando Rodriguez. Prosecutors wiped his slate clean by dropping four felony gun charges he was facing in Avondale “restorative justice” court.

Less than 36 hours later, police allegedly found an intoxicated Rodriguez sitting in a car with a gun on his lap at a Near North Side gas station. Prosecutors on Sunday charged him with a fresh felony gun charge.

When Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans announced the Avondale Restorative Justice Community Court last summer, he said the court would resolve conflicts through “restorative conferences and peace circles” instead of typical criminal court procedures.

“We have recognized for a long time that young people need a second chance,” Evans said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Rodriguez, who would become one of the court’s first participants, may have blown that second chance in record time.

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Judge: School Officer Who Hid During Shooting Facing Charges

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The former school resource officer accused of hiding during a South Florida school shooting that left 17 people dead will have to convince a jury that he wasn’t criminally negligent, a judge ruled Thursday.

Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein declined to dismiss the child negligence charges against former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson, the Sun Sentinel reported.

Peterson, 58, had worked as a school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time of the February 2018 shooting, has been charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors have said that Peterson failed to come to the rescue as Cruz was making his way through the school’s hallways. The law that Peterson is accused of breaking specifically applies to caregivers, but defense attorneys argued during a hearing Wednesday that a law enforcement officer doesn’t fit the legal definition of a caregiver.

Prosecutors are arguing that school resources officers are inherently different from other law enforcement officers and should be considered caregivers.

Fein ruled that a jury can decide whether a school resource officer should be considered a caregiver and noted that a jury instruction will be included to that effect.

Cruz faces the death penalty if convicted in the Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre in which 17 people were slain and 17 others were wounded. Cruz’s lawyers have said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life prison sentence, but prosecutors are insisting that his fate be decided by a jury trial.

New York City To Pay Criminals Not To Shoot People

When I was a kid, I got money for good grades on my report card and doing chores around the house. What I didn’t get money for is not screwing up. What I got was not being grounded, which seemed like a pretty good deal for me. However, New York City figures they can make the deal even better.

They’re going to pay people to not commit violent crimes.

No, seriously. From The Trace:

NEW from THE TRACE: New York to spend $1 million piloting Advance Peace, a violence prevention program that uses financial incentives. The city will launch in a precinct in each borough and pair fellows, or young people deemed at-risk for being involved in gun crime, with formerly incarcerated mentors. Other cities that have implemented Advance Peace pay fellows a stipend of roughly $1,000 per month, as well as bonuses for meeting agreed-upon goals like getting a driver’s license or passing the GED.

Mentors will begin training this month, and fellows will enroll in the program later this fall. The pilot is being administered by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, which oversees myriad anti-violence programs that have grown in response to a surge in gun violence.

“I [see] Advance Peace as an opportunity to put our money where our mouth is, investing in people who have been disinvested for generations,” said K. Bain, the executive director of a violence prevention nonprofit who is also helping coordinate Advance Peace with City Hall. Champe Barton has more on the program, and its challenging rollout, here — a partnership with The City.

Wait…I haven’t committed a violent crime. Where’s my money?

Ok, let’s get serious for a moment here. Programs like this are easy to make fun of. The question is, does it work, and if it does, is it worth the cost.

My inner libertarian looks at this and automatically wants to dismiss this. After all, why the hell are you paying tax dollars to people for not breaking the law? And if you’re going to do this, what about all those other people who aren’t breaking the law. You’re kind of taking a dump on them.

However, I need to remind myself that this is a targeted approach. These are people who are generally already problem people and the money is meant to serve as an incentive to keep them doing what they should be doing. In that way, it was like my report card money. I was supposed to study and do my homework because it was my responsibility, but the money motivated me to at least try and do that (spoiler: I didn’t, but that was just me).

If Advance Peace works, it could ultimately save the city billions. After all, if they’re getting GEDs instead of getting locked up, they’ll be able to pay their own way.

My concern here is whether $1,000 is going to make much of a difference considering how expensive New York City actually is. Will it be much of an incentive?

But, I guess we’ll have to wait and see if it works or not.

That was then:

June 24th, 2020

Oakland City Council Votes to Defund Police, Stripping More Than $17M from Department Budget.

OAKLAND (KPIX) — The Oakland City Council approved a budget early Thursday evening that will strip $17.4 million in funding from the Oakland Police Department and direct the money toward other programs.

 

This is now:

August 10, 2021

Oakland Chinatown Leader Demands Gov. Newsom Declare State Of Emergency; Residents Living In ‘State Of Fear

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce President Carl Chan asked Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday to deploy California Highway Patrol officers to the city’s troubled streets and declare a local state of emergency in an attempt to stem the rapidly rising tide of brazen robberies and violent assaults.

Vigilantes?
Well, if goobermint isn’t going to do the job……
Dare I say it again?
I dare.
¡Grupos de Autodefensas Para Tu y Mi!

‘Vigilantism’ a fear in wake of new laws

PORT ANGELES — A state legislator and the Clallam County sheriff painted dire pictures Wednesday in depicting a use-of-force police reform bill that went into effect Sunday.

State Rep. Mike Chapman said HB 1310 may soon be clarified by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson in a manner that will make it less onerous.

The Port Angeles Democrat, who said he has received heat from his constituents for voting against it and six other police reform bills, and Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict, a critic of HB 1310, gave their takes on the measure at a virtual county Economic Development Council “Coffee with Colleen” meeting.

Their message followed a critical view of the measures offered by Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith and Deputy Chief Jason Viada on Tuesday before the Port Angeles Business Association.

House Bill 1310, which sets use-of-force parameters and was cosponsored by Chapman’s 24th District Democratic colleague, Steve Tharinger of Port Townsend, was criticized by Chapman and Benedict as being unclear and procedurally confining for law enforcement to the detriment of public safety.

“Nature abhors a vacuum,” Benedict said.

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Portland Police Struggles to Recruit Officers to Combat Rising Murder Rate

Recruitment for Portland police’s revived Gun Violence Reduction team is at a dismal level as violent crime continues to surge in the riot-torn city.

The revelation comes on the heels of the June 16 resignation of the Portland Police Bureau’s entire Rapid Response Team, known commonly as the “riot squad” responsible for policing riot-related violence, after an officer was indicted.

According to the Wall Street Journal, retirements and resignations are also rising at local police departments across the country. There was an 18 percent increase in resignations and a 45 percent increase in retirements from April 2020 through March 2021 compared with the same period one year ago, according to a June survey by DC-based think tank Police Executive Research Forum.

And, in the Rose City itself, since 14 job openings were announced in May, only four police personnel have applied to work with Portland’s new version of the Gun Violence Reduction Team. The unit was disbanded in 2020 amid an effort to defund the police and has recently been reinstated, although there have been several changes which appear to be unappetizing for prospective job applicants.

“Portland officers say such positions, once considered prestigious, are now less desirable, given the increased scrutiny that accompanies them,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “The new unit has its own citizen-advisory board, instituted after the old unit was criticized by city leaders for racial profiling. A job description says qualifications include the ability to fight systemic racism.”

Daryl Turner, the person in charge of the union representing Portland police officers, stated: “They’re demonizing and vilifying you, and then they want to put you in a unit where you’re under an even bigger microscope.”
Following calls to defund the police, the Portland City Council last summer voted to slash $15 million from the city’s police department, including the 38-person gun violence reduction team, which was criticized for alleged racial profiling.
In 2019, 52 percent of the team’s stops were of black people, who make up 5.8 percent of the city’s population. After the team was disbanded, homicides rose. Portland police officials then proposed creating a new team in spring 2021.
There have been 53 homicides so far in 2021 and Portland is on pace to surpass its all-time high of 70 homicides in 1987, according to Portland police officials. The trend is unraveling Portland’s decades-long history of having one of the lowest homicide rates among major American cities, the Wall Street Journal reported.

May be just me, but in cases of dealing with criminals bent on violent mayhem, calling the police should be for clean up.

And a small change to an old saw:
When seconds count the police are just minutes away aren’t coming.

What happens when people call the police … and cops don’t come? Washington is about to find out.

MOSES LAKE, WA – What happens when you call for help and no one comes? People in Moses Lake and other Washington communities are about to find out.

Moses Lake Police Chief Kevin Fuhr has been sounding the alarm since May about a package of new “police reform” laws that have been passed and signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee. Now, the Chief said police will follow the law.

Following the law means that many times, police will not be coming.

Of the laws passed this year, the main one of interest is House Bill 1310, or state Rep. Jesse Johnson’s “use of force” bill. It was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee on May 18 and goes into effect July 25 of this year.

The bill requires police to have probable cause before using force, as opposed to reasonable suspicion.

The law also creates a new board to investigate officers accused of wrongdoing or excessive force, makes it easier to decertify or prosecute officers, and limits their ability to act.

During a June 22 meeting, Fuhr said:

“This is changing completely the way we’ve responded to some of these calls … and there will be some calls that we just absolutely don’t respond to from here on out.”

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BLUF:
If the White House was truly confident that Missouri’s law violated the U.S. Constitution, I don’t think Merrick Garland would have hesitated to bring suit against the state. The fact that he hasn’t done so says quite a bit, and the fact that U.S. Attorneys are instead looking for ways to workaround the new law is even more telling.

US Attorneys Trying “Workaround” With Mizzou’s New 2A Preservation Act

Shortly after Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act was signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, the Biden administration fired off an attack of the new measure in the form of a letter from the Department of Justice to Parson and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt alleging that the SAPA violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Since then, however, the administration has been mostly mum on the new law. A couple of counties in Missouri have launched legal challenges to SAPA in state court, but the DOJ hasn’t followed suit with federal litigation.

Instead, as the Kansas City Star reports, the Department of Justice is quietly trying to find ways to work around some of the provisions of the law, which forbid state and local law enforcement agents from cooperating with their federal counterparts in enforcing any federal gun control statutes that aren’t mirrored in Missouri law. On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co we’re taking a look at those efforts, as well as why the anti-gun Biden administration doesn’t appear eager to test the constitutionality of the Second Amendment Preservation Act in federal court.

According to emails obtained by the Star, one federal official is hoping to use prosecutors’ subpoena powers to compel local law enforcement to testify in federal gun cases.

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