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#  Crime Epidemic! If LA Resorts to Vigilantism to Fight Our Crime Crisis, Who Will Be Blamed?

**ALPERN AT LARGE**-Since many who read and write for CityWatch are caught up in the President's actions or antics, and blame President Trump for the killing of Iran's General Soleimani, and as well for the downing of the passenger jet to Ukraine, the question of "who is to blame" for violence is a good one.

Written by Kenneth S. Alpern.

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January 16 2020

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**ALPERN AT LARGE**-Since many who read and write for CityWatch are caught up in the President's actions or antics, and blame President Trump for the killing of Iran's General Soleimani, and as well for the downing of the passenger jet to Ukraine, the question of "who is to blame" for violence is a good one.

Many blame Trump, and many others blame Iran, and perhaps more than a few blame both parties. Yet whether it's "apples and oranges" the question of how this translates to our own crime epidemic is one that begs answering ...

... and the question of how Angelenos NOT fleeing the City are supposed to respond to it also begs an answer. Vigilantism, anyone?

Because innocent citizens aren't supposed to, and shouldn't be expected to, put up with lawlessness forever--no matter what moronic judge or City official declares.

So, let's start with three main ethical truisms:

1\) Vigilantism is an awful descent into barbarism that is a threat to all civilizations...but so is crime and lawlessness gone amok.

2\) Sooner or later, no matter how we dance around it, our City government (and as well the County and State) is allowing so much lawlessness that the law-breaking isn't even being reported ... or even allowed to be called lawless!

3\) A critical example is how neither Mayor Garcetti nor the City Council have ever had the decency to say something to the effect of "we're here to help the helpless, and home the homeless, but if you break laws and threaten to destroy neighborhoods with acts of violence and drug dealing, you're going to jail!"

Los Angeles isn't the only city with this problem. Just as Californians hurt themselves by ignoring law enforcement by passing Proposition 47 and 57, New York law enforcement (including former LA Chief Bratton) is infuriated about what Albany allowed for ["bail reform"](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/nyregion/cash-bail-reform-new-york.html).

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers know that allowing repeat offenders to not be put away, and/or to be allowed to [skip bail](https://www.foxnews.com/media/ny-bail-reform-law-democrat-critic-fox-friends), by the same judge who keeps seeing them again and again and again is a BAD idea.

Because guess what? Haters gonna be haters, and criminals gonna be "criming"!

Some folks need help, and some are downright repeat offenders. "Three strikes" wasn't just some racist tyranny--it was meant to keep those doing the majority of crimes away from the law-abiding.

So will we finally allow us to slap ourselves back into the real world, and into the adult world, by putting aside the unicorns and magic long enough to reverse some of the bad decisions that [Proposition 47 and 57](https://www.kcra.com/article/bid-to-toughen-california-crime-laws-set-for-2020-ballot/22095907), like we can do this year?

Or will we have to resort to [vigilante justice](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/us/california-homeless-backlash.html) as a backlash NOT merely to homelessness but to the lawbreakers amongst them who we've coddled too darned long as victims and lumped them with those who truly need our compassionate help?

And how truly compassionate is the City of Angels if they leave too many law-abiding, tax-paying residents on their own to defend themselves in a City where the LAPD cannot possibly be and do everything demanded by the citizenry in a timely and effective fashion?

*(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was (termed out) also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Outreach Committee, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee and Vice-Chair of its Planning Committee. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at* <Ken.Alpern@MarVista.org>. *He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at* [*www.fogl.us*](http://www.fogl.us/)*. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)*

*-cw*

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