Community Policing - Taking the Blinders Off of Justice

by Michael Douglas Carlin (Originally appeared on 9/23/2014)

There has been a transformation over at LAPD. It took time and it took community involvement. It took uprooting a mentality of suppression-driven law enforcement. It took involving the community in prevention of crime rather than the suppression of crime. The numbers are in and it is working. Crime rates are at historic lows in spite of all of the budget cuts. The strategy is more efficient and it is saving lives.

Now we have a Sheriff's Department mired in controversy. Twenty Federal Indictments have been handed down and there is a cloud over the department that seems to mirror the recent past of LAPD. The time has come to uproot this old mentality inside of the Sheriff's and there is a clear choice to lead the charge. Who better than one of the catalysts for change at LAPD? Who better than a man that is currently running a department, and running it well, with many of the challenges and complexities inside of the Sheriff's Department? Who better than a man that has spent three decades inside of law enforcement in the Los Angeles area?

There are many choices on the ballet this June but one choice stands out above the rest. There is one candidate that can rally the community better than the others to achieve community policing. He is the candidate we deserve and the one that we need. Just look at all of the endorsements Jim McDonnell has received. The list includes: District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Former District Attorney Steve Cooley, Former District Attorney Gil Garcetti, Police Chief Charlie Beck, many other police chiefs, former Governor George Deukmejian, members of Congress, Assembly members, local politicians and many many community leaders.

If this new era of Community Policing is to take root at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department it is going to come from a Sheriff that can rally the entire community to get involved in continuing to make our community safe. When the entire community participates in law enforcement justice is no longer blind. Jim McDonnell is the logical next step in removing the blinders from Justice.