L.A. City Council Passes Motion to Replace Police with ‘Crisis Response’ for ‘Non-violent’ Calls

The Los Angeles City Council passed a motion Tuesday to replace Los Angeles Police Department officers with unarmed “crisis response” personnel to be assigned to “non-violent calls for service” such as “neighbor disputes.”

The motion, introduced by Councilmember Herb Wesson and five colleagues on the 15-member council, would:

INSTRUCT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and the City Administrative Officer (CAO), with assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority and in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and other relevant government service providers, to develop an unarmed model of crisis response that would divert non-violent calls for service (mental health crisis, substance abuse, neighbor disputes etc.) away from LAPD to the appropriate non-law enforcement agencies.

INSTRUCT the CLA to analyze and report back on programs utilized both domestically and internationally such as CAHOOTS in Eugene, Oregon as well other models of crisis intervention.

An explanatory paragraph says, in part:

According to the Motion, budget cuts in social services have resulted in law enforcement taking on a greater role in dealing with homelessness, mental health and even COVID-19 related responses. Los Angeles has gone from asking the police to be part of the solution, to being the only solution for problems they should not be called on to solve in the first place. As Los Angeles Country engages in a national conversation on the re-imaging of public safety, the City of Los Angeles should look to be a leader and act boldly to structurally change how it delivers services to its residents, particularly those who have been historically marginalized and neglected. In order to properly service the most vulnerable, the City of Los Angeles should look to advance non-law enforcement solutions in circumstances that are non-criminal.

Local Fox affiliate KTTV noted that Wesson would be “working on the project with members of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced earlier this month that the city would be cutting up to $150 million from the LAPD budget — more than 10% of the total — for redistribution in “communities of color.”

Breitbart News reported Monday that morale in the LAPD is at a “record low.”

https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2020/06/30/l-a-city-council-passes-motion-to-replace-police-with-crisis-response-for-non-violent-calls/

Statement from Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft on Federal Court’s Decision that Legal Challenge to Illinois Governor’s Sweeping COVID-19 Orders Belongs in State Court

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Steven D. Weinhoeft issued the following statement on yesterday’s ruling, agreeing with the Justice Department, that a legal challenge to Governor J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 orders belongs in Illinois state court rather than federal court:

“It is now up to the Illinois courts to decide if Governor Pritzker’s continuing COVID-19 executive orders are lawful. These sweeping proclamations affect more than 12.5 million Americans, restrict their freedom to associate, practice their faith, and engage in commerce. And, these orders appear to reach far beyond the scope of the 30-day emergency authority granted to the governor under Illinois law.

The United States Constitution requires that every state in this nation establish and maintain a Republican Form of Government. This means that governors cannot restrict our freedom by issuing unlawful edicts.

Governors do not rule us. We are self-governing, and governors answer to the people through the democratic process. For that reason, all public officials, including governors, must comply with the law. Even in the face of a pandemic, states must follow their own laws and make these sensitive policy choices in a manner responsive to the people. Doing so, both respects and serves the goals of our broader federal structure.

The Department of Justice remains committed to defending the rule of law and the American people at all times, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Background

On May 22, 2020, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in an Illinois federal court in support of a lawsuit filed by Illinois state representative Darren Bailey challenging certain actions of Governor J.B. Pritzker in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its statement of interest, the United States explained that this dispute belongs in Illinois state court, and that Representative Bailey has raised substantial questions as to whether the governor’s current response to COVID-19 is lawful.

Yesterday, the Illinois federal court agreed with the Department of Justice that the dispute belongs in state court, ruling that “in the interest of federalism, the court finds that the amended complaint does not give rise to federal jurisdiction and that this action is best committed to the courts of the State of Illinois for further consideration.”

The statement of interest was part of Attorney General William P. Barr’s April 27, 2020 initiative directing Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Matthew Schneider, to review state and local policies to ensure that civil liberties are protected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Illinois has, for the past several months, sought to rely on authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act to impose sweeping limitations on nearly all aspects of life for citizens of Illinois. According to the lawsuit, the governor’s actions are not authorized by state law, as they extend beyond the 30-day time period imposed by the Illinois legislature for the governor’s exercise of emergency powers granted under the act.

Representative Bailey brought his case in Illinois state court and elected only to assert state law claims. In May, the presiding state court judge ordered Bailey to file his motion for summary judgment and instructed the governor to respond to it. Instead of responding to Bailey’s motion for summary judgment, on May 21, the governor removed the case to federal district court.

On June 29, the federal district court remanded the case to the circuit court for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Clay Court, Illinois.

The federal case is Bailey v. Pritzker, No. 3:20-cv-474.

The department’s previous statement of interest in this case can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1278636/download.

The department’s press release on its previous statement of interest in this case can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-files-statement-interest-challenging-legality-illinois-governors-sweeping.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/statement-assistant-attorney-general-eric-dreiband-and-us-attorney-steven-d-weinhoeft-federal

Volunteer Medic in Seattle’s Autonomous Zone Says CHOP Security Shot at Black Teen Killed in Monday’s Shooting

A volunteer medic who responded to two gunshot victims early Monday morning in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) said that CHOP security fired at the teens after their vehicle crashed into a barrier, in an incident that resulted in another fatality in the so-called autonomous zone.

A 16-year-old was fatally shot in Seattle’s CHOP early Monday morning, while a 14-year-old remains in critical condition at the Harborview Medical Center. According to the SPD Blotter, SPD’s 911 Center “received multiple calls of shots fired in the area near 12th Avenue and East Pike Street,” as callers “reported observing a white Jeep Cherokee SUV at or near one of the barriers surrounding the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone just prior to the shooting.”

According to callers, “several unidentified people had fired shots into the Jeep.” Volunteer medics transported the victims, one of whom was “taken to a meeting point with Seattle Fire Department personnel, who then transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center.”

Marty Jackson, a volunteer medic in CHOP, said he heard the gunshots and saw a white SUV driving speedily. That was followed by additional gunshots. He arrived on the scene and witnessed others attempting to tend to the victims, one of whom was shot in the head. He said he recognized the victims, as they had appeared in the area before.

“He also said the CHOP’s security are the ones who fired on the SUV after it crashed into a concrete barrier,” KUOW reported.

Jackson said, detailing the incident:

And so when I arrived up there, I see the guy that got shot in the head and I started doing, you know, medical work on him. The guy that I’m working on got shot in the face twice — once in temple, once in the jaw. Probably four or five times in the arm and then once on the side.”

He described the chaos among CHOP medical volunteers and the subsequent difficulty they had in flagging emergency personnel.

Per KUOW:

“It was a lot by the end of the night … I was covered from head to toe in blood,” he said, further commenting that he feels the CHOP medical staff did not act quickly enough in the situation.

“It’s all because we weren’t going fast enough. I’m shouting ‘put him in a car,’ someone else is shouting ‘no bandage him up.’ I’m like ‘fuck that, he needs to be in a car now.’ Other people are like ‘no he needs to be bandaged first.’ To me, it was communication between the medical staff.”

[…]

At the end of the incident, Jackson estimates that about 300 rounds were fired in the CHOP over Monday morning.

Jackson described CHOP as an “active war zone” and advised people against coming to the area. He said:

If we continue to stay here, we continue making ourselves a target and it makes medical and security harder, the more people come out here, you know, the more we have to watch after … you know, we’ve been having fights, you know, we’ve been having, you know, weapons, strong gunshots.

The exact circumstances that led up to the shooting still remain unclear. Nonetheless, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said on Monday that it remains “abundantly clear to our detectives [that] people had been in and out of the car after the shooting” and said that they have been trying to get information from witnesses, although that has proven difficult as “people are not being cooperative for our requests for help.”

Surveillance footage shows a chaotic scene as gunshots rang through the autonomous zone.

As the Seattle Times described:

“Everyone who’s not armed out here, I need them on the ground,” a voice shouts.

Moments later, a gunshot can be heard and people scatter. Then, two more shots can be heard before a vehicle — apparently the white Jeep — appears to collide with a barrier or a portable toilet on 12th Avenue. The vehicle appears to back up, as six more gunshots can be heard, and then moves forward, appearing to crash again. About 10 more gunshots followed soon after.

However, the Daily Mail reports that those within the CHOP zone claim that CHOP security guards “started shooting at the Jeep only after the teens opened fire on them and drove into a barricade”:

Protesters say the shooting unfolded only after the teens started firing and their vehicle plowed into a CHOP zone barrier. Those inside the zone say CHOP security guards, who are self-appointed and heavily armed, returned fire.

‘The protesters responded quickly with CHOP security returning fire hitting both the driver and passenger in the front seat,’ a CHOP member, only known as Stitch, told DailyMail.com.

An investigation into the fatal shooting is ongoing.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/30/volunteer-medic-in-seattles-autonomous-zone-says-chop-security-shot-at-black-teen-killed-in-mondays-shooting/

Seattle Mayor Says Protestors Outside Her Home Have No ‘Regard’ For Her ‘Safety’

Seattle’s Mayor Jenny Durkan on Sunday issued a statement after a group gathered outside her home to protest her decision to dismantle their autonomous zone, saying the protestors have no “regard” for her “safety.”

“Mayor Durkan and her family are in the state program to keep their address confidential because of the death threats mostly related to her work as Seattle’s U.S. Attorney under President Obama,” a statement from the mayor’s office read. “Instead of working to make true change, Councilmember Sawant continues to choose political stunts. Tonight she did so without regard for the safety of the Mayor and her family. The Mayor was not even home – she was working at City Hall. Seattle can and should peacefully demonstrate but should not put families and children at risk.”

The autonomous zone, also known as ‘CHOP’ was once referred to by the Mayor as the “summer of love.” However, with several shootings and the tragic death of a 16-year-old boy in the 6-block police-free stretch, Durkan’s changed her tune.

Durkan’s office added, “Seattle has a long tradition of peaceful protest and advocacy for progressive change, and Mayor Durkan strongly supports those rights. Mayor Durkan will continue to listen to leaders in Seattle’s Black community. She is working hard to translate the calls for change into real, tangible systemic changes to policing and all the other systems needed for strong and healthy communities. She has prioritized these as Mayor, with investments in housing, education, youth opportunity, and economic equity. She proposes investing an additional $100 million into the Black community.”

https://saraacarter.com/seattle-mayor-says-protestors-outside-her-home-have-no-regard-for-her-safety/

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