Unarmed 'Security Ambassadors' Can Only Watch as Violence Erupts on Street
Quote:ast summer, the city of West Hollywood, California, cut back funding for sheriff’s patrols to increase what it calls “security ambassadors,” who would prowl the streets in a new form of policing.
“They’re able to de-escalate situations without any violence, without any issues. This works. It’s proven successful,” West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem Shepi Shyne said at the time, according to CBS.
The program was first established in the city 10 years ago, according to a news release on the city website dated June 24, 2013, which stated: “The Block by Block security ambassadors assist the Sheriff’s department with identifying and addressing a wide variety of quality-of-life issues.”
But new video shows a less rosy picture of what security ambassadors are able to do in West Hollywood, an incorporated area of Los Angeles County with Hollywood to its east and Beverly Hills to its west — and politics as liberal as Americans might expect in that neighborhood.
According to KABC-TV in Los Angeles, West Hollywood resident Ethan Reynolds happened to be strolling on Santa Monica Boulevard in mid-April when he saw a violent incident erupt.
“There was this man kicking his vehicle and I turned my head and I saw the Block-by-Block officers,” Reynolds said in a video clip that was posted to Twitter by conservative social media commentator Collin Rugg.
“I was flabbergasted because they walked right past like nothing.”
The footage shows a white sedan stopped by a crosswalk. One man comes over and kicks at the driver’s door.
The driver opens the door and the two scuffle.
As they fight, the two security ambassadors watch. The only action taken occurred when one spoke into a walkie-talkie.
The KABC report is below:
“I was like ‘Oh, this doesn’t look too good,” Reynolds said, according to CBS.
“If the Block by Block Ambassadors are not empowered to mitigate situations like this, which do seem to occur often in West Hollywood, truly it does give us a false sense of security and I think that’s extremely frustrating as a resident,” said Reynolds.
“If it’s just a secondary step for providing true intervention, I just don’t see the point,” he said.
Resident Eddie Aguglia vented his frustration at the spectacle.
“Whatever policy is in place that made them react the way they reacted has to be changed,” he told CBS.
In June, when West Hollywood shifted funds away from paying the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for patrols, Shyne said the change was overdue, according to Fox News.
“We have all talked for two years about re-imagining policing and reimagining policing means reallocating funding and that’s exactly what that means – you can’t just say it without actually doing it. Period,” Shyne said.
The program has a “direct positive impact on safety and neighborhood livability,” according to the city’s website.
The program “provides a highly visible uniformed presence at the street level. Block by Block Security Ambassadors are deployed on bicycles along major streets, alleys, City parking lots, and residential neighborhoods.”
The website notes that in an emergency, the Sheriff’s Department is to be called.
RE: Unarmed 'Security Ambassadors' Can Only Watch as Violence Erupts on Street
(04-30-2023 08:05 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote:
(04-30-2023 07:57 PM)umbluegray Wrote:
(04-30-2023 07:54 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote: Good guy with a gun should have stopped this right?
If it was in Texas the good guy would've steeped in.
But in Commiefornia, they don't want good guys with guns because, to them, there's no such thing.
Seriously? You've been off your game lately. You're making it way too easy.
What California law stops the good guy?
Quote:I live in another state and have a permit to carry a concealed handgun that was issued in my home state. Does my permit allow me to carry a concealed handgun while in California?
No. CCW licenses/permits issued in other states are not valid in California.
(Pen. Code, §§ 25400-25700.)
That's one. A given that there are very few good guys left in Commiefornia you wouldn't expect that many to be roaming around.
Quote:The attack happened in a matter of seconds when a seemingly mundane moment quickly turned to terror as the woman circled her car to get inside, according to surveillance video of the incident. From the car next to hers, a man emerged, grabbing her as he attempted to wrestle her into his car.
Seconds into the terrifying attack, a man ran into frame extending a handgun, which allowed precious moments for the woman to escape to safety.