(The Center Square) – In response to viral “smash and grab” robberies that have garnered national attention, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass created a regional organized theft task force with 22 investigators and three surveillance teams to combat mass theft. Notably, embattled Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon was not invited to the press event, suggesting the mayor may be attempting to distance herself from his increasingly unpopular “do not prosecute” position on many crimes.
One suspect involved in a $300,000 mass theft operation from a Yves Saint Laurent store at developer and formal mayoral candidate Rick Caruso’s Glendale mall has already been apprehended, but was released the same day with a ticket to appear in court, suggesting the suspect was released under the Los Angeles County’s recently restored zero-bail policy for “nonviolent” crimes.
“No Angeleno should feel like it’s unsafe to go shopping and no Angelenos should feel like it’s unsafe to open a business in Los Angeles or Los Angeles County.” said Mayor Karen Bass in a press release announcing the task force. “This task force will aggressively investigate these incidents and hold individuals that are responsible for these crimes fully accountable.”
Under California’s Proposition 47, authored by Gascon when he was serving as San Francisco District Attorney, thefts under $950 are classified as misdemeanors. Prosecutors are still able to charge individuals for such crimes, but with a limited amount of lawyers and resources, such cases, as misdemeanors, are much less likely to be brought to court compared to felonies, especially under district attorneys such as Gascon who issue “do not prosecute” memos for wide ranges of crimes. Critics say that despite Bass’s efforts, without any change in Prop 47 or leadership in the local prosecutor’s office, everyday theft outside of the viral mass theft incidents that are a fraction of thefts but generate the most coverage will continue unabated.
““As long as you have Prop 47 and George Gascon in operation, we’re basically just spinning our wheels,” immediate past Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva told The Center Square. “Both the Sheriff’s and LAPD are severely understaffed and because they are understaffed they don’t have the manpower to intercept a lot of these thefts and do proactive police work. The manpower’s just not there.”
In response to this police shortfall, which now leaves Los Angeles with one police officer per 420 residents, compared to one per 220 in New York and Chicago, Bass approved a new contract increasing officer recruit pay by 13% and providing 3% annual wage increases for the next three years. Bass’s stated goal is to restore LAPD to 9,500 officers from under 9,000 now, but such an increase would still leave the city with just over half the number of police per resident compared to New York and Chicago, cities that are geographically much smaller and can thus be covered by fewer police per capita.
Concern about Los Angeles theft has spread to Sacramento, with Governor Gavin Newsom announcing he is tripling California Highway Patrol resources in Los Angeles to “help the city crack down on organized retail crime.”
