Police Nab Jaywalkers in Downtown Los Angeles

Everyone in City Hall screams loudly for a larger police force. Police Chief Daryl Gates cries wolf because he doesn’t have enough officers to crack down on the out-of-control drug and youth gang problems in South-Central Los Angeles. Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky takes Mayor Tom Bradley by surprise and goes one up in his bid to unseat the mayor because his draft of the budget includes 250 more police officers. It takes an eternity to get the Los Angeles Police Department to respond to most calls and forget it if you are trying to recover stolen property or a stolen car.

Isn’t it wonderful though that under these conditions the LAPD has all the officers and time in the world to chase the city’s jaywalkers. Certainly the crime of jaywalking is potentially a greater threat to the city’s security than drug trafficking, auto theft, official corruption, youth gangs and all of the other minor problems we face. Thank you Chief Gates for having your departmental priorities straight. Maybe you should just shoot anyone caught jaywalking. Then we really would not need any more police.

CRAIG HENDRICKSON

Los Angeles