I guess the municipal government of Los Angeles must really be buying into the idea that the apparent election of Joe Biden will mark a new era of peace, love, understanding, unicorns and flowers. I’m assuming that’s the case because they’re going to be further scaling back the size and duties of the LAPD. I mean, why keep all of those cops roaming around the streets of the city if everyone is busy attending a huge hug festival, right? With that in mind, they’ve already slashed $150 million from the police budget so they won’t be able to afford to keep as many cops on the payroll anyway. Oh, and if you’re involved in a fender-bender with another car, don’t bother calling the cops. They won’t be responding to those calls anymore. (Daily Caller)

Amid a spike in homicides, the Los Angeles Police Department is set to downsize its homicide and robbery division and will stop responding to traffic collisions, according to CBSN Los Angeles.

Due to budgetary challenges, more than 200 LAPD officers will be moved back to patrol under a “broad reorganization aimed at preserving patrol and community engagement functions,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Under the plan, anyone with minor injuries from car accidents and hit-and-run crashes will need to file a report online.

In June, following protests and riots that erupted across the country over the death of George Floyd, the Los Angeles City Council moved toward defunding the LAPD, voting to cut the department’s budget by up to $150 million, according to CBS.

The LAPD will soon downsize its specialized units and stop responding in person to traffic collisions and other minor incidents as part of a broad reorganization aimed at preserving patrol and community engagement amid a $150 million budget cut.https://t.co/DER7bhWJvK

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 8, 2020

Another 350 positions for uniformed officers will be eliminated by April according to the latest announcement. The LAPD will be reducing the number of cops on a variety of task forces, including (but not limited to) robbery, homicide, and gang and narcotics units. Boy… things must be really going well in Lalaland these days if they don’t need to keep the police working as diligently in those areas. Oh, wait. That’s not actually the case at all. In fact, murders in the City of Angels are up by 20% compared to the same time last year. And the number of arrests being made is down.

Some of you may hear about the proposal to not respond to minor accidents anymore and see it as no big deal. But it is. It goes back to the basic premise of the theory of broken windows policing. When there’s an accident, even a minor one, and the police quickly show up, they keep a lid on the situation so it can be safely resolved. Left to their own devices, the people involved in the crash may start with finger-pointing and escalate to a full-blown fight. Alternately, criminals who see the two damaged vehicles and the drivers who are now temporarily pedestrians and try to take advantage of the situation by robbing them. Having armed, uniformed officers there to take required police reports and discourage any sort of escalation is common but important police work.

Here’s a nickel’s worth of free advice for the Mayor of Los Angeles. Do you know who doesn’t give a hoot about who won the election or George Floyd what we’re doing about the pandemic? The Crips and the Bloods and the rest of the gangs that rule Compton and other economically challenged areas of your city. They’re out there taking care of their “business” as always, and business is apparently booming.

The same things are going on with the gangs in Chicago, New York City and other major cities. While you people chatter on about needing to reform and scale back the police, the gang bangers are seeing opportunities on the horizon. And in a literally cutthroat business such as theirs, you never let an opportunity go to waste. Your political feel-good measures may assuage the hurt feelings of some of the activists who are protesting outside your doors, but they aren’t going to do a thing to keep the residents of your cities any safer.