Store owner victimized by Lakers fan riot to rebuild

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.

Lakers Parade and Rally- Private money coming forth- Mayor booed.

The Lakers parade was accomplished and there's private sector money coming to reimburse the City- and you know those contributions are not all about pride but with some "forget-me-not" expectations for later. Developers and billionaires.

But Ron Kaye's blog has another good posting today, "Let's Celebrate Champions -- Not Bums Who Fail Us," June 17, 2009, this morning, and updated with the YouTube clip from the rally that brought out the "boos' when they mentioned the Mayor and the Council members were there to say something. And they cancelled today's scheduled Council meeting just for this, too.

Later, Mayor Villaraigosa got up to the mike and was booed. This was as he tried out his DJ imitation and asked the crowd if they were ready to "pah-ty"- but maybe he got booed for asking if they wanted to "potty" which was exactly what it sounded like. But Tony never lets bad reactions like that ever stop him from trying.

What really is the complaint with these things more than the lousy choices most of them are, is that the politicians are even there AT ALL. Nobody wants to hear from them, no one pays atttention to what they are saying. Ther's not one thing, not one word, spoken that is any different from what anybody else there is saying. They just want to "belong" and be seen with the Lakers, and appear to be important. Besides posting those signs like "No Alcohol," they need a really to put up a big one that says "No Politicians."

City to Pay A Million Dollars for a Lakers Parade?

Will someone let the Mayor and Council members know that there still is budget left that's largely a fiction- with the Union NOT agreeing to the terms. So why is Mayor Tony agreeing to a million dollars to pay for a parade for the Lakerss? The amount is HALF of the real cost of $2 million, but the LAKERS should pay ALL of it- they are a profit-making professional sports franchise and can handle it on their own or it shouldn't be done. Why should Mayor Tony give away more money, or ANY money (part of the answer is that it's not coming from his own pocket, like any politician's reasoning)?

The city parade from the Staples Center to the Coliseum is also going to disrupt traffic and tie up a lot of police. Aren't we short on police these days? And using up police hours is going to get a lot of overtime racked up, creating more bills for a cash-starved city budget.

Sunday night would be or should be reason enough to skip the parade. They can hold the rally at the Coliseum and crowd control could be better accomplished. Looking at the police handling of the rioting Sunday results in the conclusion that it was absolutely stupid. Too few officers assigned to be "the police presence" was not getting the job done. Maybe Bratton wanted to make it look "Lakers Fan Friendly" but there's such a thing as being taken advantage of by your friends.

Taxpayers will eat the bill for the damage and destruction to property, including police and other vehicles. Some guy lost dozens of pairs of expensive vintage sneakers when looters broke into his store. See the L.A. Times, "8 LAPD officers injured in Lakers celebrations [Updated]," 8:22 AM, June 15, 2009. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/lakers-riot.html

The police response to criticism was that it took time to get enough officers together to respond. Duh. Didn't anyone in LAPD management watch the game? You didn't need a crystal ball to see the risk and for Laker fans' behavior of the past and that commotion preview after the third victory, it was almost certain to happen Sunday. You don't need ALL fans to be acting badly, but there were enough and it should have been handled with better planning and then done with all possible SPEED.

Instead of taking a lot of time to respond, the LAPD could have gotten a big boost from the Sheriff's Department with the "mutual aid" provision actually requiring them to assist, in case there was any doubt about that. Of course, Bratton, as Chief, is way to proud to say the LAPD needed any help. Politics is again affecting public safety.

And Bratton is plainly disingenuous in saying that this was the work of "knuckleheads" as if this was a group of pranksters TeePee-ing a house on Halloweeen. There were lots of people committing crimes. If this were other than the Lakers celebration, there'd be lots of people locked up on Sunday night. Bratton tries to blow this off as no big deal, and that attitude is a huge contrast to his own famous approach to law enforcement, applying the "Broken Windows" theory. That involved citing people for any violation that could be found, tightening up on any previously lax enforcement of such laws that ultimately worked to weed out many offenders in the process and make the quality of life better for all. Well, on Sunday night, by letting enforcement slide for so long as they did, had the opposite effect. It encouraged further "celebration," and many cops got hurt, as well, costing money and the well-being of people unnecessarily.

People might have forgotten that riots, like fires, start off with a small event that gets quickly involved and out of control if not handled decisively and immediately. Maybe you might remember the Rodney King riots- also like a fire getting out of control after starting out small and quickly spreading, fueled by the television coverage showing there is NO police response and the mob mentality is present, overriding personal responsibility. Any reasonable expectation of a problem was ignored and no plan was put in place because no one made up one ahead of time, so we have a city riot for days.

Was the outcome Sunday what the Chief wanted it to be? Maybe a few in the LAPD are still gun-shy from that Melee in MacArthur Park two years ago when some of the police actually ran amok. I doubt if the same loss of control is likely to happen again, but then keeping cops away until way after the time that they are needed is not the answer.

I think that the cost to the city should be ZERO for whatever they want to do on Wednesday- whether it's a Parade or just a rally, but NO city money needs to be spent now when layoffs and furloughs of City workers are on the planning table. THIS fiscal behavior is exactly what got the City into the jam it's in. Spending without money available to cover it. People don't learn. That's goes for so many of the things mentioned in this posting, "People don't learn."

Mayor Tony has plainly fallen victim to his own vanity and arrogance. Unless Tony dips into his campaign fund of millions of dollars to personally cover the bill, he should just say "Good job, Lakers." Spending like a drunken sailor? Even a drunken sailor would have more sense than what's being shown in most Los Angeles city spending.

LATE UPDATE: It looks like someone's having more sober thoughts on spending. Private VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTIONS are being sought to pay for the what the City was going to cover. Well, still, that's not saying the city will not spend a penny for this event, and when they say that, I will be satisfied.