TIRE SLASHINGS ARE BACK IN SILVER LAKE

I wrote about tire slashings in Silver Lake for this month's Los Feliz Ledger. Pending corrections will update the map and copy to accurately reflect the area that gets hit: Effie Street and Crestmont, Maltman, and Golden Gate avenues. According to one of the unnamed sources mentioned in the story, about 90 percent of the activity is within a 100-yard radius of the corner of Effie Street and Golden Gate Avenue.

I didn't have the editorial space to go as deep as I wanted to. Within this story, there were several issues which merit examination:
  1. The use of the senior lead officer system in the LAPD - the very relationships that keep the police in touch with neighborhoods keep benevolent residents from criticizing, not wanting throw the officer who's become their friend under the bus
  2. The larger trend of property crime in Los Angeles, overshadowed by a recent spike in violent crime
  3. What it actually takes to arrest and prosecute any offender, and why it's not hard to be a career offender and face little punishment
  4. The effects of Prop 47
  5. Underreported property crime because of the above 
All are now dogeared for future stories. If you have a story of your own experience with these issues, email me.

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