The Solution to Looting is Effective Policing - Not More Looting!

The Only Solution for Looting is Policing – Not More Looting Derek Chauvin’s intentional, malicious, sadistic murder of George Floyd justifiably engendered demonstrations and protests. Justice for George Floyd became the rallying cry. So too with Ahmaud Abbey in Georgia (Not technically a police shooting), Breoona Taylor in Louisville, Eric Garner on Staten Island and a host of others. Racism should be damned. Justice for George Floyd – Yes! Looting and burning the businesses of minority owners is not justice. Looting the College Hall of Fame in Atlanta is not Justice for George Floyd! Looting Nordstrom’s is avarice – not justice. Burning banks and pharmacies is not justice – just mad rage. Stealing a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory in Seattle is not justice – just greed. Looting SoHo is not justice but a five finger discount. Throwing Molotov cocktails in police cars in New York is not justice for George Floyd in Minneapolis. Burning churches is not peace - it's mindless, reminiscent of Nazis burning synagogues and white racists in the South bombing and burning black churches. Riots, looting, and arson quickly followed. That is not justice for Floyd. That is anarchy, nihilism, and rank opportunity. The peaceful demonstrators and protestors should be protected, respected, and honored. NYPD officers kneeled in sympathy with the protestors. Other police marched with peaceful demonstrators – all for the good. Many Americans are bitter and upset. The criminals should be prosecuted. The looting started in Minneapolis and quickly escalated throughout America. The police are unfortunately handcuffed, handcuffed by governors, mayors, and legal precedence. The historic way of policing looters was an order to “Shoot looters.” That is constitutionally and morally wrong today. Police would use their batons and Billy clubs as they waded into mobs, smashing heads. Litigation and court decisions made that costly for cities. Arrests are still legal. However several mayors and police chiefs have barred arrests, letting looting and arson continue. A classic example occurred yesterday in Long Beach, California. Looters were cleaning out an Urban Outfitters in a mall when the LBPD arrived, all captured on live TV. A score of officers showed up and blocked the exits, one of which was a second story broken window. The assumption was that the officers would arrest the looters and stop the looting. Nope, the looters simply ran through the officers, who made no attempt to arrest any of them. Then the looters came back and grabbed any loose garments lying on the ground by the officers, who remained frozen in place. They then marched away. Why were the police officers there? The looters quickly realized that the officers had no in terrorem effect. The Long Beach Police Chief had the hubris last night to go on TV and expressed his dismay at the looting! A Nordstrom’s at the Grove in Los Angeles was looted with TV cameras rolling the day before. No police were in sight. I understand the Thin Blue Line cannot be everywhere at once. I understand authorities have to prioritize their limited resources. I do not understand Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis ordering the police to abandon their station which was then looted and torched. I do not understand how police can stand by and watch looters loot, as they did in Long Beach yesterday. I do not understand someone in authority in Baltimore telling the police to stand in place and watch a CVS looted and torched in the Freddy Grey riots. These acts empower the lawless. I understand that over 4,000 have been arrested to date, but police could easily have arrested thousands more. President Trump talked to the nation’s governors today. He told them “You have to arrest people; You have to get much tougher.” He told them they had to dominate; they had to control the streets. They have to get much tougher. Not everyone appreciated his remarks. The hapless Michigan Governor Whitmer found his remarks “deeply disturbing. Presumptive Democratic Nominee Joe Biden finally emerged from the basement. He called President Trump “somebody in power who breathes oxygen into hate into the rocks, it comes out from under the rocks.” Let us mourn George Floyd and celebrate the Americans who have come out to clean up their neighborhoods. The solution for looting is effective policing – not more looting!