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Fourteen “smash-and-grab” theft suspects lately arrested in Los Angeles, California, are back on the streets thanks partially to the county’s controversial zero money bail policy, the metropolis’s police chief mentioned this week.
During a press convention Thursday, Chief Michel Moore advised reporters, “All the suspects taken into custody are out of custody, both on account of one juvenile, or the others on account of bailing out or zero-bail standards,” according to Fox News.
Moore added that the 14 suspects had been arrested in connection with 11 separate robberies that took place over a ten-day period late last month, from November 18 to 28. In total, the crimes are believed to have cost the targeted businesses $338,000 in total stolen merchandise and more than $40,000 in total property damage.
Many have argued that lenient treatment for offenders has opened the door to a rash of “smash-and-grab” robberies in communities across the U.S. in recent months.
In response to the news, Los Angeles County’s liberal district attorney, George Gascón — a supporter of zero cash bail — promised that “smash-and-grab” suspects would be held accountable for their crimes.
“Our workplace has been collaborating with a number of regulation enforcement companies and as soon as all the proof has been gathered, we are going to evaluate the instances to decide what felony fees ought to be filed,” Alex Bastian, particular adviser to Gascón, mentioned in a press release, CBS News reported. “These brazen acts damage all of us: retailers, staff, and prospects alike.”
A statewide zero money bail policy for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies was carried out final 12 months as a part of a supposed effort to cut back overcrowding in jails amid the coronavirus pandemic, however the policy led to June.
An analogous policy, nevertheless, was continued in Los Angeles County after Gascón was sworn in. On Twitter, the district lawyer referred to as the cash bail system “unsafe” and “unjust” and vowed to finish it altogether. He later advised U.S. News and World Report that “eliminating money bail is one of the moral imperatives of our generation.”
Amid the information of the 14 launched looting suspects, Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Moore calling for the policy to be terminated.
“We need the help of our criminal justice system, of our judges, of our jailers,” Garcetti mentioned. “We have opened up a lot of the city because we’re in a better place with COVID. We should be able to also open up our jails, and we should be able to have judges that put people behind those bars.”
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