“This morning’s LA Times has a well-researched story by Joel Rubin about the 2003 murder of a 16-year old girl named Martha Puebla. Vineland Boyz gang members allegedly killed her. And while that is tragic enough, what is worse is the way two LAPD homicide detectives callously marked Martha Puebla for her death.”

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Now tell me does this like an author minimizing the actions of a cold blooded low life, ordering the execution of a young girl, in a recorded phone conversation from jail. Most people would say we need to eliminate jail communication of murder suspects who have a long history of witness intimidation and extreme violence. I wonder who is really to blame for the 204st gang mudering a friend/witness by stabbing him over 80 times and slicing his throat?

I just wrote a long meaningful response but my computer just now ate it before I could hit “submit.” So, I’ll just say that if you liked today’s post, I think you’ll enjoy the comments of Chief Beck as much or more. Unfortunately, I won’t be posting them Tuesday as I’d planned, but they’ll go up Wednesday a.m. (Was tending to a sick dog.) Let me know what you think.

Your report under the subtle title, “Killing the Witness,” clearly makes it clear who you believe bears “moral and legal responsibility” for this tragedy: “So what happens when the cops tell a gangster the supposed witness’s name, offering this as “proof”…then what if everything the cops have told and shown the gangster is a lie, a ruse, a trick?” (Okay, you had me at “lie” already.)…”If harm comes to the ‘witness,’ who should bear moral and legal responsibility?”

On the other hand, as LR says, the gangbangers — whether killed by other gangbangers or jailed for riding along on a driveby shooting — are all depicted with evocative language to emphasize them being victims of society, kids always “on the verge of turning their lives around” and basically nice kids who just needed more money and programs and hugs and — as LR says, more poetry programs. When cops are, meanwhile, depicted in such a negative light (by the Times, too, which had a “bash the cops week” last week), this serves as an attempt to push pubic opinion in a direction that, I feel, would be not only financially ruinous and wasteful, but harmful to society and the solving of our gang crisis. So it’s more than just rhetoric.

BUT your posting of the anon. police officer’s views is very interesting, and promotes more informed dialogue on the issue. I especially note his comment that what’s portrayed as corruption is often just a “short cut,” like the case last week of the two cops who claimed they’d found the perp’s drugs immediately when it in fact took 20 minutes. They didn’t plant the drugs, the case was essentially the same, but as your source says, some cops get so fed up by what they see as the failings of the justice system (like, if they didn’t claim to see the drop, the perp would claim the drugs weren’t his and walk, like he’d done before), that they “get creative” on details to win the case. — Meanwhile, the 3 strikes law means some people are put away for stealing snacks, so clearly our justice system IS amiss. The third strike shouldn’t include misdemeanors, and should give the sentencing judge more leeway.

American Radio Works has supported some excellent investigative reporting that too often print media tends to ignore. This looks like another example.

I like the pull quote for the series: “A man has to be more than the worst thing he’s ever done.”
- Rene Enriquez

You forgot your many stories about the gang members who were on the verge of turning their life around because they are writing poetry. And how the gang members are the real victims of society because of a lack of feel good programs for violent criminals.

I will post the stories which Celeste will not write about. In today’s news is a story about the attempted murder of the mother of cop in Whittier. Her house and car had been tagged by local gang members, before the attempted murder of this woman. According to Celeste the gang members are probably poor victims of society who need more money spent on social programs to turn their lives around. But I will label them as low life scum bags, who deserve the death penalty for this type of cowardly act against a defenseless old lady.
http://cbs2.com/local/West.Whittier.Shooting.2.765121.html

And here is a story from a mexican mafia member, who will tell you how many prisoners abuse our legal system. He tells us only death will stop prison gang members from committing crimes from behind prison bars.
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/gangster/h1.html

And of course the non existent enforcement of immigration laws and L.A.’s sanctuary status have absolutely nothing to do with L.A. being the gang capital of the world. And of course all American citizens should jump for joy, when spending billions on social services for illegal immigrants, especially gang members and other criminals. And of course every illegal alien criminal like the one who nearly killed a friend in Miami (a gang member from Los Angeles) should not be “harassed” by police and immigration officials. By the way this low life was arrested in many states for violent crimes (so much for three strikes) and deported and returned to the U.S. many time before finally being charged with the attempted murder of my friend and the murder of somebody else. I say a give him a noose instead of a novel.

I know there’s much controversy with hiring practices, which seemed to have started during Bernard Parks’ watch. I hear both sides so, without doing a full-on investigation, I’ve been unsure of the Big Picture truth of it all. But your perspective is a helpful one to hear.
(And what’s up with the seat belt extender story? Never heard that one.)

Woody: (sigh.)