Patterico's Pontifications

5/28/2009

Protecting and Serving, but for Whom?

Filed under: General,Judiciary — Jack Dunphy @ 9:16 pm



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

The L.A. Unified School District has proposed laying off 2,300 teachers in an effort to close a $400 million budget shortfall. At some high schools in Los Angeles, students have engaged in impromptu walkouts and demonstrations at the District’s downtown headquarters. A watch commander at one LAPD station proposed to deal with the problem by citing the demonstrating students for truancy, as is ordinarily done when officers encounter students who have skipped school without authorization. The watch commander sought guidance from his captain, who in turn sought guidance from his deputy chief. The answer handed down should be no surprise to anyone who follows the LAPD: No enforcement action is to be taken against students who take it upon themselves to leave school and engage in the protests.

This reluctance to enforce the law fits neatly into the pattern displayed as recently as Tuesday night, when hundreds of LAPD officers were dispatched to Hollywood, where supporters of homosexual marriage were demonstrating against the California Supreme Court’s decision upholding Proposition 8. But what did those hundreds of officers do when they got to Hollywood? Did they enforce the law by ushering the illegal marchers out of the streets and allowing the thousands of inconvenienced commuters to proceed on their way? Of course not. That might have led to bad press, which we must avoid at all costs. Better to let the law be flouted than to enforce it at the risk of someone being offended. It was essentially a repeat performance of what occurred last November, when Proposition 8 was approved by the voters, and LAPD officers stood by while protesters clogged the streets. (I discussed it here, on Pajamas Media.) I would conjecture that if the protesters were instead speaking out against illegal immigration, abortion, or any the Left’s other sacred cows, the LAPD’s stance would be quite different.

By the way, if the police won’t be allowed to order students back to school, perhaps someone should encourage the student pictured above to spend more time studying and less time demonstrating. At least he spelled “students” correctly.

–Jack Dunphy

19 Responses to “Protecting and Serving, but for Whom?”

  1. I agree, and well said.

    I know it makes me sound old but there was a time when the school-related story of the day would have been today’s National Spelling Bee champ instead of this spelling-challenged student.

    DRJ (2901e6)

  2. Of course they’re laying off teachers.

    Can’t touch union officials or administrators.

    Apogee (e2dc9b)

  3. Student “walkouts” and demonstrations? Are they sure it wasn’t just a bunch of LAUSD kids dropping out of school?

    Patricia (2183bb)

  4. So let me understand this, The LA school district is laying off teachers at the same time they are paying $10 Million dollars per year in salaries to teachers they are trying to fire.

    Hmmmmmm… Shouldn’t those people be at the top of the layoff list?

    While normal thinking people may think so, thank god we have the unions to set us straight!

    Kenny (0b36dd)

  5. For DRJ. Laodicean. (If you Google it, be careful. It has already been set up as bait for malware sites.)

    nk (e71733)

  6. $174,000 per teacher is what the math works out to be….good bye “teachers” !

    DaveinPhoenix (699f08)

  7. nk- so that was the final word? It was too late to keep my 2nd grader up, or her mother and father.

    Just goes to show that Bible literacy would have been useful, as I assume Laodicean is one who is from Laodicea (Rev. 3:14).

    That sign tempts action as President Reagan did with the air traffic controllers, fire them all then hire back who you want.

    Perhaps the LA United School district, and California, for that matter, can file for bankruptcy and renegotiate everything from scratch… but you need to do it quick before the feds do a “pseudo-bail-out” and then bankruptcy takes place with the President deciding who the new CEO, –I mean Governor– I mean.. oh, whoever it is he will put in charge.

    I wonder what the editor had in mind when he/she decided to publish that picture.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  8. I assume Laodicean is one who is from Laodicea (Rev. 3:14).

    Yes. It’s second meaning is someone who is not very intense, even indifferent and lukewarm, about his beliefs. It may be from a Synod held in Laodicea in the 4th century which failed to establish any particular dogma.

    nk (e71733)

  9. my 2nd grader

    M.D. in Philly, forgive me if this is too personal. You have a son who is a policeman, and also a second grader? Are you like my grandfather whose oldest child was born when he was twenty-five and his youngest when he was fifty-five?

    nk (e71733)

  10. Are you sure that the kid with a sign is a student? From what I’ve seen of public school teachers, he looks very young, but too brainy by half.

    As others have pointed out, the LAUSD could close its budget gap by winnowing out its bloated administrative ranks. But that would assume that its management objectives relate to educating youth, versus increasing the wealth and leisure of administrators.

    Kevin R.C. O'Brien (944595)

  11. You could also translate it literally (which I do not recommend) as a synonym for democracy. Laos=people and dicea=justice/law/judgment.

    nk (e71733)

  12. Cans someone please enlighten me as to the current attitude adjustment displayed by Bratton? He didn’t appear to be anywhere near this politically – correct during his stints in NYC and New Orleans.

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  13. Laodicea, DMac. He does what the majority wants him to.

    nk (e71733)

  14. The Los Angeles Police Department, once again has decreed, “Do not enforce the law!” To its’ officers they have once again been made a policy instrument of the Mayor’s office. The officers are to forget the law they are sworn to uphold, the Constitution, the codes enacted by City Council, the State Assembly and the State Senate. Forget all of that! For God’s sake if the cause is liberal enough (Anti-Proposition 8, Illegal immigration, school walk-outs) the message is to not do your job and restore order! Allow the demonstrators to snarl traffic, block intersections, flout the law, and make the rest of the law-abiding citizens of Los Angeles sit and wait and watch the impotent police department NOT DO THEIR JOB!

    The message is purposely, astutely, and absolutely unwritten from City Hall to the LAPD brass to all field officers and that message is, “Hands off!”

    This policy is clearly evidenced by repeated lack of any enforcement action with Proposition 8 demonstrators, numerous LAUSD truant walkouts, and illegal immigration marches. Wasn’t the division of government-executive, judicial, and legislative- purposely established by the Founding Fathers to avoid corruption and collusion? Not in Los Angeles.

    This unlawful, left leaning sanctuary city has effectively made the police department its’ partner in crime by ordering its’ officers not to enforce the laws of California if the purpose or cause is in line with the beliefs of City Hall. With the Chief of Police appointed by the Mayor and his appointed Police Commission, in the months to come it is evident Angelinos will be wasting countless hours behind illegal, non-permitted demonstrations as hundreds of LAPD officers, taken from field duties in all parts of the city, facilitate the illegal actions of these non-majority groups.

    For those that would attempt the feeble argument that the LAPD is exercising discretion by not enforcing the law, do not understand this issue well enough. The integrity of the law, the credibility of the law enforcers, and those that lead them is degraded considerably when offenses are officially sanctioned and no action is ordered to stop them. The law and those that enforce it are degraded each time police do not attempt enforcement action, when they are aware of violations. Plain and simple, law violators are supposed to be dealt with by the police. Especially when the violators, no matter how righteous the perceived cause, plan to repeatedly engage and violate established law and principles that have been enacted by not only legislative bodies, but by the electorate.

    None of these above described demonstrations were permitted, meaning the city received no money from the organizers or demonstrators. Where is Laura Chick to advise us how much each of these unlicensed demonstrations cost the city? Imagine the cost of five hundred police officers and at least fifty fire fighters assigned to a single demonstration. Also, imagine the gap in the protection of the city of Angels during such a demonstration. Do you believe with hundreds of public safety members involved in such an event, the city is as safe as it was without the event? Do we always have hundreds of officers and fire fighters in reserve just waiting for events such as these? Anyone who tells you yes is a deliverer of disinformation.

    Neighborhoods, rich and poor alike, are left dangerously unprotected because City leaders have determined demonstrations should be allowed to take place unlawfully.

    But hey, it’s okay! With the Mayor of Los Angeles, the former American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) President, and his puppet Chief of Police, if you want to have unlawful assemblies in LA, and if City Hall believes the cause is liberal enough, go right ahead! The police will even help you with your illegal demonstration to stop traffic for you, block intersections and take hundreds of cops and fire fighters and paramedics to make sure you do whatever you want to! Come to Los Angeles, it’s a party!

    Irwin Copper (aa3f50)

  15. At a certain point selective enforcement of the laws begs the question why have cops at all?

    Amused Observer (fa636b)

  16. I wonder how many of those demonstrating kids have parents here legally ?

    I denounce myself so you don’t have to.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  17. 15. Why, indeed? The officers certainly aren’t acting like cops. They are not there for enforcement, they are there to babysit and ensure nothing untoward occurs to the demonstrators.

    Irwin Copper (aa3f50)

  18. nk-

    no problem. Not quite like your grandfather. My oldest, the police officer, is only 22 at present (greeted us when I was 28) and the youngest is still 8 (at 42). The other 11 are scattered There is one “in between” at 20.

    I do not doubt there was a synod in the 4th century that was lacking in intensity, but being “lukewarm” was exactly what the church at Laodicea was charged with in the Bible.

    Picking up from before, I know one can buy Gyros from Kronos (or Chronos sp?), and that’s what one normally finds in family pizza parlors, etc., that sell them (even the one nearby owned by Greeks). But the “real ones” (mislead though I may be) are significantly better.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  19. Those students might be taken more seriously if they could spell.

    Bleepless (dd4ca3)


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