Where Did Our Law Enforcement Lose Its Way?
“In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.” That cold open to Law and Order became ubiquitous in our society. But, somehow, we have lost our way. This simple concept no longer exists in many parts of our country.
Most people do not pay attention to who their District Attorney is or the position at all. I learned that vividly in 2000. Steve Cooley had just gotten elected to the position for Los Angeles County. I was a principal party in hosting a fundraiser for him to clean up his campaign debt. I was stunned to find that I was the only (yes, only) non-attorney who worked on the event or wrote a check. At the time no one cared about this position except for the attorneys who wanted to work in the office or might have cases against the ADA’s (Assistant District Attorneys).
How times have changed. As you probably know, the Left (funded by George Soros and his gang) have found these positions a hot place to focus. They figured there was little focus on this position so if they threw an outsized sum at the position, they could get one of their people elected. The test case was spending $300,000 to elect Kim Foxx, the DA of Cook County (Chicago). We all know how that situation turned out, though she alone is not the only one deserving blame for Chicago’s various calamities and neighborhood murders. As a perfect example of her massive abuse of her position, she initially dropped the 16-count indictment against Jussie Smollett.
Realizing success with pouring outsized monies into that race, they decided to proceed across the nation wreaking havoc coast to coast. They elected Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, and Jose Garza in Austin. Their two crowning achievements were moving George Gascon from San Francisco to Los Angeles (spending $2.5 million and defeating a black, female Democrat) and electing Alvin Bragg in Manhattan. In five short years, they have used their targeted monies on formerly sleepy elected positions to transform the criminal justice system in the United States and unleash criminal activity across the country.
These newly elected DAs start by telling everyone how they are not going to enforce the laws. Right off the bat Manhattan DA Bragg stated he will not prosecute trespassing, resisting arrests (always builds confidence in your police force), and/or illegal gun possession unless someone is shot. The last point validates the position of gun owners that the proposed new laws will only limit legal gun owners. DA Gascon’s laundry list of “reforms” announced his first day in office got him nominated as Man of the Year by the United Criminals of America. No cash bail and trashing the death penalty were among his biggies.
One must ask: who appointed these people King? Californians voted in favor of retaining the death penalty in 2016. All these jurisdictions have duly elected legislative entities and these DA’s just disregard the laws in place. Makes you wonder what the criminals are contemplating when the law enforcement entities are wholesale not following the laws.
If you go back to the opening quote of this column, the police are responsible for investigating the laws and the DA’s prosecuting them. In Los Angeles County, Sheriff Alex Villanueva recently stated he sent 12,000 cases to Gascon’s office, of which none or very few have had any follow-up. One must assume these cases are based on laws enacted by a legislative body and signed by the executive officer of that entity. Yet the DA just ignores the laws. In Chicago, Ms. Foxx has ignored 25,000 felony cases sent to her by the police.
These prosecutors want to expand their responsibilities even further. A recent Washington Post column by Hillary Blout (former prosecutor in SF DA’s office) called attention to her desire to expand a prosecutor’s authority. Since she had nothing to do as a DA in SF due to Gascon and his successor Boudin, she researched and “was shocked to learn that there was no law in the country allowing prosecutors to review old cases for possible release.” For the entire column she omitted any mention of parole boards which are in place everywhere to deal with this, not to mention the multiple nonprofit legal operations pursuing potentially wrongly convicted cases.
She did crow about Prosecutor Initiated Resentencing (PIR) which she points out is an innovation born in California (what could go wrong there). “PIR allows prosecutors – whose role has traditionally been to put people in prison – to get people out when the sentence is no longer in the interest of justice.” Not only do the DA’s not want to prosecute the cases handed to them, but they now want to free more criminals who they do not like being in prison under the laws dutifully passed in their jurisdiction.
We have ourselves to blame for this mess. We voted these miscreants into office. We voted for CA Prop 47 which allows theft of up to $950 from a store to be treated as a petty crime. In NY, the legislature voted in bail reform that has criminals instantly out on the streets.
Our women are afraid to walk in areas that until recently were considered safe because of smash and grab random crimes. We created this mess. We must now fix it.
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This article was published on December 26, 2021, in Flash Report, and is reprinted with permission from the author.
