Dear Los Angeles Times,
It’s not you it’s, me. And as a dedicated reader of your paper since high school, I ask you not to simply dismiss my critique of your paper as a disgruntled reader, but a reader that has established a long-term, three-decade relationship with you.
Years and it appears that over this period that we’ve both have grown entirely too comfortable with one another in that it appears that you’re not even making an effort anymore , resigned to the notion that the inevitable death of print journalism and that of the Los Angeles times is imminent and it appears collectively that those who are in charge of the Los Angeles times have resorted to clickbait journalism in exchange for advertisement dollars or exclusive access to the movers and shakers in Los Angeles politics.
Not in the slightest. Not remotely. Not even close, and too continue to push this thinly veiled, thinly supported argument that Sheriff Alex Villanueva created and promotes an atmosphere within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that promotes deputy gangs and is menacing the residents of Los Angeles countywide is nonsense and you know it.
In fact I’ll issue a challenge to you Los Angeles Times, host a debate with the leading candidates for Sheriff , lets debate the merits of this baseless claims of Sheriff misconduct because independent this narrative the race for Sheriff would be relatively boring campaign and then just maybe , just maybe the powers that be would at the Times would be inclined to report of the debilitating ineptitude and abdication of duty collectively, flagrantly and maliciously by a wide collective body of politicians that seems hell bent on circumventing the will of Los Angeles Voters by enacting an unconstitutional process that allows the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to simply replace a sheriff based on hype and propaganda and riddled with hypocrisy.
I beg of you Los Angeles Times what’s the end game here because as opposed to serving as paid assassin’s to help further this flame of false narratives that have continuously been lobbed against Villanueva since the beginning of his tenure as Sheriff I challenge you to join the Sheriff in restoring the quality of life by using your once esteemed paper as a vehicle for change and true accountability as opposed to a ” woke” vehicle that poll tests stories to generate the most readers and in return yielding higher advertising dollars.
In closing, Los Angeles Times you are better than this.
Please return to the days of Steve Lopez when I could always count on him to tell a story in such a human way that I didn’t mind spending $3.00 daily on your paper now your paper isn’t worth stealing off your neighbor’s lawn.
Los Angeles Times let’s do better and I know you can because this Sheriff Villanueva ” Dennis the Menace” portrayal doesn’t add up and for transparency sake let’s be honest the originator of this tall tale is currently facing a 20 count indictment, that being former Board of Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas who some can argue avoided criminal prosecution for decades as your paper provided him a soft landing spot of shielding the general public of the long documented nefarious deeds of the long time politician and public servant.
With that being said Los Angeles Times in all due respect, it’s time to put up or shut up and whatever you have on Sheriff Alex Villanueva that supports this thinly proven theory as this rogue sheriff doesn’t add up and is clearly blatantly racist.
Need any further proof lets make it simple and in the words of Dr. Faucci, lets follow the science it is virtually impossible in less than a 4-year period according to most studies for an elected Sheriff to cultivate, establish and condone an atmosphere of illegal gang activity and provable collusion all the way up the rung of Sheriff.
We all want police reform but this is not the way to go because nothing on Villanueva’s record indicates he’s the poster boy for all things wrong with the Sheriff’s department, as you like to make him out to be.
In the grand scheme of things, and personally for me as a Black man who admittedly has his own issues with law enforcement, there’s nothing more than I would like than to arrive at a time in my life that police misconduct and allegations of police abuse are a thing of the past, and although tempting and seemingly on surface it appears that Sheriff Villanueva is this “rogue” “Sheriff, he’s not.
Beneath the surface, and upon further investigation, according to reporting conducted by your own (LAT) staff, this so-called level of “chaos” orchestrated against the Sheriff isn’t based on facts, but by writers at the Times that aren’t even from here. Their views on the world are shared through rosy colored glasses, behind the comforts of their gated communities, while providing elected officials political cover, and leaving us, the constituents, left to deal with the end result.
If in fact if this is their idea of “reimagining” policing, I prefer the old way. Los Angeles was safer.
Marvin McCoy can be reached at therealmccoymarketinggroup@gmail.com.
11 Comments
Lol look at this paid filth. You call yourself a journalist? You are a shill wannabe blogger.
Thank you
2Urbangirls, I agree with a mentioned comment about coming to read your content because it exposes truths that some do not want us to know. However, I am scratching my head on your coverage about the Sheriff. I see his campaign is an ad sponsor, but this man has lied since he was elected. The author of this opinion may want to go back and see where the term yellow journalism came from back in history. Yellow journalism is not in play when the truth is being told. The Sheriff campaigned on “reform” but he started off wrong by trying to bring back a rightfully fired employee. He then used taxpayer money to hire attorneys to defend his decision. And the issue with the knee incident cover-up is documented by evidence!
The Sheriff has established policies to address a wide range of issues plaguing the department. This site publishes content from citizens who are regular community members watching the same show as everyone else. Their opinions matter more than the folks at the times pushing a narrative to maintain their bottom line.
I’m sorry but we don’t live in an “Utopian” universe and I agree wholeheartedly that bringing back that deputy probably wasn’t the position that you want to draw your line in the sand on but this narrative that he runs a corrupt organization doesn’t fly.
In fact the Sheriff is very transparent and has often through his weekly updates , sometimes multiples, as I anticipate one today he often refers to deputies that he has recommended for discipline and or criminal conviction.
Anybody who knows the culture of law enforcement gangs and for them to actually thrive under Villanueva as folks like you suggested he would have to serve longer than he has been , which is less than 4 years.
Plus what would be the pro’s for allowing a criminal enterprise to thrive just for the sake of entrapping himself when he faces so much scrutiny from critics like you and the media .
This fallacy that Villanueva is crooked doesn’t add up because you would have to establish a criminal pattern and or intent and nothing any of Villanueva’s critics can piece together a plausible and intelligent narrative with facts , independently vetted and investigated that supports your theory.
Ask yourself if Villanueva is so bad like the Board of Supervisors claim , why haven’t they indicted him?
But they did indict Mark Ridley Thomas who started this smear campaign.
The fucking irony of it all.
I don’t get this, Villanueva hardly in the streets and brags about what he does and it is his job…he takes cameras out just one day on streets and brags about it. Especially watching the video how other officers abuse other prisoners is not acceptable. Am also confused about this guy opinionating about who Alex Villanueva and the way Times writes it’s articles….why I don’t hear about people like him also not complaining about FoxNews, the Times aren’t the only ones….this is a political bias Villanueva wants to get re-elected for a reason…and is not better it for worse…
Hardly in the streets? Elected officials across LA County applaud his efforts of being present and in their city’s while we were on lockdown. Villanueva holds weekly conversations with the public and answers questions whether they are in agreement or criticizing him.
The Times hasn’t written about many of the accomplishments made under this Sheriff and if you aren’t willing to acknowledge either than I don’t know what to tell you.
2 urban girls is one of my favorite places to find learn and read on news topics. Probably because many of the topics feel right at home and tend to be on my radar anyway. This story on Alex is probably one of the only that leaves me scratching my head. Its possible the previous sheriff/s got less of my attention. Maybe they spent less time in front of the mic? Villanueva always comes off as a liar when I hear him talk. Situations that I have knowledge of are rarely if ever discussed honestly. I might be better off paying attention to the folks on the street as opposed to the one at the top. But I was just sharing my thoughts. I don’t expect any election or even a new sheriff to change much. You might laugh at this thought but I feel like I have more influence riding around on a bicycle that the actual Sheriff does with the staff working the streets. I doubt the guys on the street ever even meet Alex as opposed to running into me daily. They certainly are not getting oversight from any politician. Thanks for this platform and your time.
Sir,
If I may respectfully disagree, because I’ve done extensive research, and closely watched the tenures of Sheriff’s going back as far as Sherman Block.
With that historical perspective in mind if the Board that had been in place, held the same forward thinking held by ex indicted and convicted Sheriff Leroy Baca, under the same scrutiny about the abuse that happened (which we have on record) and acknowledges rogue gangs and deputies in the LASD had been a problem in LASD for years.
Same problems during Jim McDonnell reign.
So are you telling me these problems that trace way back to Sherman Block days just pop up overnight? in less than 4 years?
The math doesn’t add up and this rogue Sheriff act is tired and extremely reckless.
Villanueva makes himself accountable it seems like multiple times a week at times through public events or social Media and readily answers the public questions regarding the Day to Day operations of LASD.
This myth about his abusive reign simply doesn’t add up
Also let’s be adults I wouldn’t expect Sheriff Villanueva nor LAPD Chief Moore in Patrol vehicles do doing active busts and arrests.
We need as adults to get out of our emotions and stoo allowing this woke campaign guide our emotions.
I think you misunderstand me. He doesn’t need to patrol. I do it. I publish videos of people like Christopher Bailey nearly murdered for no reason at an alleged traffic stop. Things like this don’t need to be covered up. They are simply ignored. The department refuses to document anything that happens. They charge their victims with resisting arrest and assault an officer despite not a single finger nail broken on any of the 20 uniforms present. Look at the category 3 use of force report. In it on 5 4 2020 you will see mention of broken orbitals. But only because I was there. His attorney(Baileys attorney)wasn’t notified of a video or any witness. These things aren’t put in reports ever. But on the handful of times either I find the attorney or they find me a defendant lucks out and gets a million dollars instead of 10 years in jail. But the proper investigation and or discipline is never an option. So maybe my problem isn’t with Villenueva. Because it would likely be the same with him replaced. Guardado is a fine example too. I interviewed what might be the only else one of the only eye witnesses. This lady was locked in a sheriff vehicle outside the Compton station for half a dozen hours as they tried to prevent her from speaking to the family. Only when the female deputy in the front of the car wanted to go home was the witness finally “interviewed” and taken back to her motorhome across the street from where Guardado was murdered. And by interview I mean they tried to force their story on her. They didn’t see the incident. The witness did. But they don’t take a statement from the witness.
They try to intimidate her into taking their version of events. Most people will cave when in that position. She didn’t. So they ignored her statement and went with their own. I think the autopsy eventually proved the department to be liars and the witness to be truthful. But that was released against the demands of Villanueva. And he lied about that case every time he talked about it. Claiming social media folks were making things up. It was him with the creative imagination. I know you don’t know me and I don’t know you but I doubt you will have much concern about the things I say if you even believe them. I have the paperwork in front of me for a deputy named Cano. He tried to murder a kid on my street besides what he did to Bailey. Even according to the Sheriff reports Cano perjured himself as they tried to send this victim to prison to avoid paying damages rightfully owed to him. They paid the kid 440K which to me means nothing because Cano never disciplined and still beating folks up…badly. This jail beating looks like nothing to me. An inmate assaulted a guard. These kids on the street didn’t do a thing and nearly murdered…the lucky ones.
Alfonzo Cerda. He was murdered in 2012. LASD claimed he had a gun and blamed him for as many days as it took me to find the family and give them a recording proving what they already knew. Single father of 3 didn’t even own a weapon. Certainly didn’t brandish one at uniforms before they ran him over and parked their vehicle on top of him. And they pretended to be in pursuit once he was under the car. That was Lee Baca back then who was Sheriff. He was in the Cerda house offering them 3500$ to bury the single father of 3 children. He did say sorry with the understanding it was 100% the fault of Mr Cerda. Before accepting the pocket change for burial, his brother Alvaro told Mr Baca he had a recording that was supposed to be of the incident. Alvaro asked Mr Baca if he would listen to the 10 minute recording because the family wasn’t sure if it was real or authentic. Mr Baca listened to the recording. When it finished, Baca got up, and without saying a single word, he walked out of the house and never returned.
Maybe it is hard to judge these things. Would Alex have showed up and offered 3500 for a burial? Probably not. But then neither would Baca after what happened that night. So maybe I just answered my own question. To me it probably wouldn’t matter who gets elected. From where I sit, very few things are going to make changes on the street. There is either a person standing there with a camera or there isn’t. Body camera is useless. The sheriff controls it. They were not purchased to prosecute a deputy. I watch them turn those devices on and off all night long. A blind man can do it. There is a beep pattern so you couldn’t miss that fact if you tried.
Well anybody present couldn’t.
I am willing to go out on a limb and say any sheriff from the past or future will continue to miss that fact.
Sorry for the long comment. Thanks for your response. I am not saying you are wrong. I probably don’t understand the politics involved at the top or bottom for that matter. The part I know is they act different depending on who is there. Who meaning those not in a uniform. For the most part, my associates and I. Nobody else is interested.