The day will come when we will hear of "peace and stability
operations" in cities like LA, San Diego, Houstan, etc. There will be
talks of 6 months deployments to places like Miami, San Francisco,
etc.
When immigration and by extension population growth keeps well ahead
of job and economic growth, this will be the threshold to the 2nd US
civil war.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LA 'on the road to Falluja'?
By Anita Rice
BBC News and Current Affairs
Ms Rice says Chief Bratton needs more police officers in LA
The LA murder rate is going up and the police chief has requested more
officers. But California is broke and cannot afford to recruit.
Civil rights lawyer Connie Rice warns that with too few officers to
"police humanely", parts of the city may as well be in Falluja.
Los Angeles is notorious for gang violence, but even by LA standards
2002 was gruesome. With 658 murders in just that one year, it became
America's murder capital.
Of those murders, almost half were directly related to gang turf wars
involving drugs and guns. And of those gangs, most are based in
south-central or south-east LA.
With a spiralling murder rate and poor police-community relations
following the Rodney King riots and the Rampart corruption scandal,
the city appointed a new chief to clean up its act.
Amid much fanfare and hype William Bratton - the man credited with
cleaning up New York's once-soaring crime rate under the political
stewardship of former mayor Rudy Giuliani - was brought in to get LA
under control.
Chief Bratton immediately appointed a second deputy charged with
concentrating some officers in gang areas and targeting gangs. He also
prioritised improving relations with minority communities.
'Shovelling quicksand'
We are now seeing the ambushing of cops by gangsters and we should be
panicking
Connie Rice
And 2003 saw the overall murder rate fall in LA by 23%, but so far
this year the murder rate is back on the increase across the city.
The LAPD's figures show a 5% year-on-year rise in homicides from Jan
to April 2004.
And while the number of homicides fell in some neighbourhoods last
year, it only ever continued to rise in the hardcore gang areas.
In civil-rights lawyer Connie Rice's words, the officers are simply
"shovelling quicksand" - and without more equipment, back-up,
effective witness protection, training and, crucially, more officers,
they are fighting a losing battle.
And she should know. Having worked with the community and the LAPD on
various initiatives and reform programmes ever since the 1992 Rodney
King case sparked riots, she is now about to begin investigating the
newly re-opened Rampart police corruption scandal inquiry.
Aside from a rising homicide rate, Ms Rice warns that the gangs are
crossing a line that has not been crossed before: They are now
targeting police officers themselves.
She says: "It's one thing for gangsters to exchange fire with the
police in situations, but we are now starting to see sniping. We are
now seeing the ambushing of cops by gangsters and we should be
panicking.
"We are on the way to a point of no return and we will end up in a
Falluja situation. It is already a Falluja situation in some areas. LA
is on the road to Falluja."
Ms Rice also claims potential witnesses are even being murdered by
criminals inside jails because the prisons are "so overcrowded and
thinly staffed". She says this has happened five times already this
year alone.
She also says the situation with gangs was so out of control that even
older gang leaders were frightened of today's members because they do
not operate within a moral framework at all.
"Who's bringing them up?" one former Crips gang leader asked Ms Rice
after telling her even he feared the younger gangsters. She warns when
that happens, "We should be very, very afraid."
Occupying army?
Ms Rice says even former gang leaders fear today's gangsters
Ms Rice says the way LA is policed needs to be overhauled.
She says the LAPD's tactics resemble those of an occupying army that
is effectively at war with the community and only hopes to hold
criminals in one area.
"It's a containment model. It's highly aggressive but we don't have
enough cops to police humanely, just to keep crime contained."
Police officers routinely stop and search people in a bid to get
information and under the law they are free to stop anyone on
probation. In these areas Ms Rice says you can presume that 80% of the
population are on probation.
She describes these tactics as creating "a police state, it is not a
constitutional democracy in these areas", and believes the only way to
control the gangs effectively is for the police to become part of the
community.
She says the police must "act like part of the community, live there
and talk to people because the LAPD needs community intelligence.
"The community is the only place. They are the only ones who know who
is psychopathic and who's just wearing gang colours because they might
get beaten or even killed."
She claims that while Chief Bratton has made "big changes at
leadership level that doesn't mean the desk sergeant gets it."
Ms Rice is not optimistic for the future; she thinks it will take from
15 to 20 years before the changes Chief Bratton has succeeded with at
leadership level reach the rank and file officers.
California is broke and the city has not been able to fund recruiting
the extra officers Chief Bratton requested.
Ms Rice claims the city is about to close 10 swimming pools and
business analysts are warning that teenagers face the toughest holiday
job market this summer for 40 years.
With the existing, simmering tensions, without any increase in police
numbers and a reduction in facilities and employment, Connie Rice
warns LA is facing a "very long, hot summer."
In a statement to the BBC an LAPD spokesman quoted Chief Bratton as
saying: "At a time when youth gang murders are on the rise, we need
Congress to reject proposed cuts to juvenile justice funds.
"Instead, we must increase investments in the proven community
programs working with our police to cut gang crime."
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: LA 'on the road to Falluja'? |
04 Jun 2004 11:23:40 AM |
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arnold_holbrook@mailcity.com
wrote:
The day will come when we will hear of "peace and stability
operations" in cities like LA, San Diego, Houstan, etc. There will be
talks of 6 months deployments to places like Miami, San Francisco,
etc.
When immigration and by extension >population growth keeps well ahead
of job and economic growth, this will be >the threshold to the 2nd US
civil war.
I talked about this years ago on this newsgroup.
People are so stupid, everyone complains about over crowded shools and an over
burdened health care system, yet not one politician will stand up and speak out
against immigration for fear of being bombarded by the media as being a Nazi.
The USA is sealing its own fate.
Tony
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