Los Angeles seeking to remove ‘racist’ police triggering passengers on transit lines BY TORI RICHARDS

Community advisers on Los Angeles’ s transit agency are seeking to replace the sheriff’s department that patrols hundreds of miles of train and bus routes with “care-based support” to alleviate perceived racism.

This comes despite a crime surge last year, with homicides up 29% in the county area patrolled by the sheriff and 12% within the city limits — a 14-year high .

The most recent example occurred last weekend when a train passenger was nearly burned to death by an arsonist who sprayed him with gasoline and lit him on fire. Fellow passengers extinguished the blaze, but the suspect ignited him a second time, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told the Washington Examiner.

“They’re woke. They worship at the altar of wokeism, believing cops are detrimental to the system and passengers are afraid of the cops,” Villanueva said of the agency’s Public Safety Advisory Committee. “They believe passengers want to avoid coming in contact with ‘oppressive’ law enforcement.”

Villanueva said the committee’s recommendation to the entire Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority , otherwise known as Metro, would mean “the bullies are celebrating everywhere.”

The committee was created as a county response to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Fourteen community activists were appointed, who started on a mission to get rid of the sheriff’s department under a “defund the police” mindset, said Capt. Shawn Kehoe, who supervises the 315 deputies assigned to Metro.

On May 4, the committee unanimously agreed to craft a letter to the full Metro board asking for the sheriff’s $66 million annual contract to be shifted to “non-police alternatives.” This follows an April 1 letter from the American Civil Liberties Union to Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, opposing “racially harmful intelligence gathering” by the sheriff that is not welcoming to “Black, indigenous, and riders of color.”

Instead of law enforcement, Metro should employ “resources for community healing, health, and prevention services to help reverse historical injustices of our outdated, broken criminal justice system,” the letter read.

Wiggins did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mayor Eric Garcetti, who appointed her.

 

During the meeting, committee member Mohammad Tajsar , an ACLU attorney, criticized Villanueva for attacking the committee by calling it a “woke advisory board.” He named about a dozen topics that Villanueva battled in the media, including reinstating fired deputies and pushing back against mandated vaccines.

“This is just a handful of scandals plaguing this department, and every week there are different ones, and it seems so completely corrupt and rotten from its core. … It seems to me the only logical thing to do is for this particular body to recommend to Metro that they not contract with the sheriff,” Tajsar said.

Kehoe said the committee started a renewed push against the sheriff when Metro hired a retired FBI agent proficient in data analysis as its chief safety officer. Computer data allows law enforcement to increase patrols in crime hot spots, and the transit system is no different.

The committee would rather have police be reactive instead of proactive — responding to crimes after they happen, Kehoe said.

“That’s what’s happening nationwide in public transit,” he said. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. We take cops off, there is an increase in calls.”

Meanwhile, the man who sustained second-degree burns over half his body is at a burn center intensive care ward and is expected to survive. Deputies were not on that particular train when the attack happened, but when it stopped in Pasadena, police arrested Christine Ciaccio, 38. She is homeless and has a string of drug-related convictions going back at least a decade, said arson detective Alex Miller.

Ciaccio was charged with attempted murder and is being held on $1 million bail, according to court records.

The 70-year-old victim is in great physical shape and rides his bike often, which helped him to survive.

 

“Our victim is extremely lucky to be alive,” Miller said. “He was lucky to have three good Samaritans to render aid. If they hadn’t been there, he would’ve died.”

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My new theme song about this issue! Grumpy