Crime Stats - Los Angeles vs. Costa Mesa

LOS ANGELES AGHAST OVER RISE IN CRIME
Over the past few days the Los Angeles-based media has been peppering the airwaves with news about the dramatic increase in crime in Los Angeles.  Horrified politicians wring their hands because it's up 10% - and rightfully so.  That's a significant number and should cause concern for anyone living in or visiting that city.  In response we heard LAPD Chief Charlie Beck tell reporters that he had reassigned his elite Metro Division to work on targeted areas.  He also said part of the solution to the problem, which he attributed in part due to Prop. 47 and AB 109 releases, was to add a couple thousand more cops to his 10,000 already on board.

MEANWHILE, COSTA MESA INCREASE IS TRIPLE!
Contrast this to Costa Mesa, where our crime rate as of December 31, 2015, was up 33%.  And you can just take a peek at this chart and realize this is NOT a new situation. (click on the image to enlarge it)

SHARPNACK HAS PLANS, BUT...
New Police Chief Rob Sharpnack has told us in recent months of his plans to improve things and it all sounds just fine.  The only problem is, we are so far behind the curve in our recruitment that it will take most of this year - at least - to get the headcount back to the arbitrarily-diminished level imposed on the CMPD by the current council majority.  We're down 20 officers, so if we snag two or three per Academy class and don't lose any more officers to retirements or departures to other jurisdictions, we just might make it back to the authorized headcount by the end of the year.

LEARNING CURVE
However, having bodies behind the steering wheels of our cruisers doesn't solve the problem.  It takes months for a new officer to gain even the minimal skills to patrol alone.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE "GRANT" COPS?
And, by the way, five of our current positions are "grant" positions - and the grants are about to expire.  That eliminates those slots unless a way can be found to authorize them beyond the expiration date.

MORE CONDITIONS FOR CRIME
In the meantime, Prop. 47 will continue to negatively impact our city, as will the early-releases as a result of AB109.  And, of course, our homeless population - up a reported 45% - will continue to be problematic.  And that issue is complicated by the growing number of sober living homes in our city.  When "clients" fail in one of those places there apparently is not mechanism to ship those failures back to their homes in other states.  So, they become one of our homeless individuals and, worse, they typically are now back using whatever their drug of choice happened to be.

REMEMBER WHY...
As we move forward in what is likely to be the most contentious campaign season in Costa Mesa history, it will be important to think about this issue and to remember who is responsible for a big chunk of it.  There are plenty of campaign issues this time around, but in my view, the rising crime rate and diminished police force is right at the top.

May He Burn In Hell!

CHRIS DORNER PRESUMED DEAD
A little after midnight Wednesday, February 13, 2013 the Orange County Register updated their story on Christopher Jordan Dorner by stating that the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department reported that charred human remains were found in the cabin that burned to the ground this afternoon in which Dorner was presumed holed-up.  You can read that story HERE.

MORE FIREFIGHTS...
We can only hope that, in fact, Dorner was in that cabin yesterday.  I watched the news coverage of the remarkable events yesterday off and on - I had to attend the council study session late in the afternoon, just as the reports of his probable demise were coming in.  More shoot-outs, including one unbelievable video scene where automatic rifles were reproducing scenes from an action movie.  You can read all about the day in the Register article - and thousands of other reports throughout the internet.

...MORE DEATH
Sadly, Dorner took the life of another law enforcement officer - a San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff was killed in the cabin shoot out and one of his comrades in arms was wounded and is under care at Loma Linda University Hospital.

IS THIS FINALLY THE END?

Does this mean an end to this week of terror in southern California, where every police officer was on edge and members of the LAPD law enforcement family were ALL in fear for their lives?  I guess we'll have to wait for the identification of the charred remains from the fire.  I hope so.

INEXCUSABLE
This has been such a terrible 10 days in the lives of southern California law enforcement personnel - many of whom are my friends - that when I heard the cabin was on fire my immediate reaction was, "Good!  Throw some more wood on that fire!"  I don't apologize for that reaction.  Regardless what may have triggered Dorner to snap, his senseless slaughter of innocent people and his cowardly murdering of police officers is inexcusable.  May he roast in the fires of hell...

MANHUNT!

UNLIKE ANY OTHER
What a day!  The region-wide manhunt for Christopher Dorner continued as sun set and the deranged ex-LAPD cop is still on the loose.  At last report more than 125 law enforcement officers were in the mountains around Big Bear last night, searching for him after his truck was discovered burned up near that mountain town Thursday morning.

DOUBT HE'S STILL ON THE MOUNTAIN
Personally, as thoroughly as he apparently planned his revenge campaign - which began with the murders of Monica Quan and her fiance', Keith Lawrence last Sunday in an Irvine parking structure - I cannot imagine that he would be foolish enough to get himself stuck on that mountain with only very limited ways to escape.  I suspect he's back on the flat land, intent of continuing his campaign of terror on members of the LAPD and any other cop he runs into.

20 PAGE MANIFESTO
I've read the unedited version of his manifesto - all 11,500 words of it - and it really rocked me back.  Clearly, something snapped within this man - perhaps after he was released from the Navy - and he's out for retribution.

AN UNBELIEVABLE DAY
I've watched the news reports off and on all day yesterday and was amazed at how he seemed to be six hours ahead of "the posse" most of the time.  From trying to hijack a boat in San Diego, to the shoot-out with LAPD cops in Corona and the attack on two unsuspecting Riverside cops a few minutes later that resulted in the death of one of them and the hospitalization of the other, then the burning truck up in Big Bear - it was unbelievable.

A VERY TOUGH DAY FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT LEADERS

I watched the multiple news conferences with multiple chiefs of police from multiple jursidictions as they tried to explain the inexplicable.  I watched LAPD Chief Charlie Beck - a friend - near tears as he described the incident.  I shuddered when, in response to a question about Dorner's skill, he said, "Of course he's good - we trained him!" I watched former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton - a friend - attempt to remember Dorner and the circumstances of the photo (above) showing them shaking hands.  I saw Anderson Cooper display the contents of a package Dorner sent him last week, including a commemorative medallion that Bratton had given Dorner - shot full of bullet holes.  It was surreal!

LOVED KFI PERSONALITIES

He apparently was enamored with some local radio personalities - he mentions John and Ken and Bill Handel specifically - but the folks on those shows played that very close to the vest.  Now some folks on Twitter are reporting that Facebook has some support groups, cheering Dorner on!  That is truly sick!  The guy has apparently killed at least 3 people and is gunning for more.

JITTERS = SHOOTINGS
In the meantime, every law enforcement agency in southern California is on edge - as witnessed by the accidental shooting by LAPD officers guarding a potential victim of innocent civilians in Torrance Thursday morning, including a woman and her 71-year-old mother delivering the Los Angeles Times.

GO GET HIM!
The question in my mind tonight is, "Just who is hunting whom?" Dorner makes it clear that HE is the predator and every member of law enforcement he comes across is his prey.  Let's hope the massed presence of the law can find this guy fast and solve the problem.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those folks in law enforcement and especially those targeted by this lunatic.