The owner of the store that was looted on Sunday after the Lakers wrapped up the NBA Championship was really victimized twice- once by the crowd that came in and looted the merchandise, and, second, systemically by the LAPD who were present and failed to act.
Richard Torres was the unfortunate victim of a belief that the police can be at a scene and stop crime. In theory, maybe there's some deterrence accomplished simply by the idea that most people will balance out doing right and not doing right and getting punished for that when police catch up with them. But on Sunday night, that store by the Staples Center, a vintage sneaker shop with lots of the shoes there on consignment for sale, was broken into.
Torres, the owner of the establishment, was interviewed today on KFI 640 and he said that there were witnesses there who told him that the police were there across the street just watching this. Just yards away, but they only watched? Part of the reason for allowing this happen was that there were not enough cops there to handle the crowd that was about 150 people.
Torres said that when he arrived, there were about 4 police cars there. Witnesses said that the shoes were lighted and thrown at the police and most of the merchandise was damaged or destroyed, with an inventory value of around $150,000.00. He had extra strong glass that actually resisted the repeated attempts to break it and the crowd took about five minutes after that to use brute force on the door and finally got in. The police still were still hanging back. Apparently and hopelessly outnumbered, they began retreating, too, as the objects were thrown at them, but whose fault was that?
The sad thing that this shows it that the police protection is provided to the big interests but the ordinary guy has to assume he's going to get some benefit of police action and in this case he was way wrong. Chief Bratton was in his stoic mode at the press conference on Tuesday and probably was embarrassed that there was such a complete loss of control due to not having enough officers out that evening. Bratton issued stern warnings to potential parade troublemakers was all about complete enforcement. It sounded like the "Broken Windows" theory was put into action again, a little late for some, as you see. The particularly frustrating thing was that, really, this was something that a blind person could see coming, and yet, they didn't prepare. What was the thinking behind that? The Chief was going to be certain to be putting out enough police for the parade. He couldn't let that be another "fool me twice, shame on me" condition, could he?
Well, that's the thing to consider about a bureaucracy and police protection. First, having the resources to use, and second, deploying them in the correct manner at the correct time to be effective. A bitter flop in this case. It might have crossed one's mind that the riot was allowed to continue to the extent it did, intentionally sacrificing some security to show the public just what might happen if the funding and other needs of the Department are cut in this budget crisis. It's only a possibility, much like the conspiracy theories that abound when any public disruption or disaster occurs.
The parade, as expected, was tightly run and the attempt at gatecrashing was quickly handled, without any more security failures happening. Proper planning and execution does get the job done, but is that a surprise? Torres is already working to reopen and people are helping out with donations and also encouragement.
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