By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
The DA candidates last week in Los Angeles were asked: “Has Los Angeles County become more or less safe and what statistics would you use to back that?” Not surprisingly, there was a steep divide between the challengers and incumbent DA George Gascón on that answer.
Craig Mitchell: Los Angeles has become less safe over the last three years.
I have within three weeks of the current administration coming into office, I had a gentleman who had been stabbed 13 times. He came into my courtroom and he said, Judge Mitchell, why is this person receiving so little punishment? I almost died. There was no great bodily injury enhancement. He said, why not? There was no personal use of a deadly weapon allegation when you stabbed someone 13 times, what crime has been committed? Everybody knows what crime that is. It’s attempted murder. What did this current district attorney’s office impose? Assault. This is just wrong…
John McKinney: Violent crime is up. You can see it, you can hear, you can feel it. And if you trust statistics, they say it too.
In Mr. Gascón’s first full year as DA homicides hit a 15 year high in Los Angeles County. They are still to this day, higher than they were before he took office. That’s the same with shootings, that’s the same with property crimes especially car burglaries. Car thefts, catalytic converters.
The retail of industry lost $112 billion, 36% of which from organized theft. And by the way, the district attorney forgot to file for $2 million from the state which could have hired three senior prosecutors to handle retail theft crimes. So yes, crime is up. 
That’s why you’re all here tonight. That’s why you’re looking at the district attorneys five months in advance.
Jonathan Hatami: Talk about statistics. Hate crimes are up over a hundred percent over and he was the first person who took office who got rid of hate crimes today. He took office, hate crimes against the Jewish community are up 27.6%.
Retail theft crimes are up 128% and it’s been reported in all sorts of newspapers. Commercial burglaries are up, commercial thefts are up, retail burglaries are up.
Mr Gascón knows that he didn’t say this. All property crimes has increased during the last three years. People have had enough of these smash and grab burglaries. People have had enough of these organized retail theft and he also knows during the first two years he was in office violent crime rose.
And the problem with that is violent crime dip a little bit during this year about one to 2%. But let me tell you something, the police officers are demoralized because the DA won’t file any of their cases. So many people don’t get their cases reported. So many people report crimes and they don’t get actually filed. And so statistics don’t tell the actual thing.
George Gascón: We’re almost sounding like we’re in a Republican debate.
During the pandemic, crime went up nationally—it actually went up in our community less than in many surrounding communities where district attorneys operate the same way that the folks behind me have operated for years.
Homicides have started to go down in 2022 and 2023 and they have gone down nationwide, nationwide, but in our community they have gone down at a higher rate.
The reality is that we went through three years of a pandemic, and, by the way, crime was up in 2020 before I became the district attorney.
Jeff Chemerinsky: The crime statistics show that crime is still up compared to pre-pandemic levels across all court categories of violent crime. We’re up also in property crimes and in hate crimes.
It’s also really important to know, I see this every day when I talk to individuals and groups that people right now don’t feel safe.
My wife, when I talk to her, she doesn’t feel safe and that’s a real problem. I think people need to feel confident that the law’s working for them, that the law’s being applied fairly and justly, but it’s being applied and people are being held accountable and we’ve lost that sense of confidence right now.
And I think that that goes back to the lack of confidence in our district attorney as district attorney. On day one, I would work to instill confidence to make sure that people know the laws being applied and that people are being held accountable. So I think people need to feel safe in our city.
Debra Archuleta: Well, I’m flattered because when I was at the ADA’s debate I asked everybody, do you feel safer now than you did three years ago? And now it’s one of the questions, do people feel safer now than they did three years ago when Mr. Gascón took control of the district attorney’s office?
They do not.
I’m glad he wants to stand up here and argue the crime statistics are down. That might be because he has over 13,000 cases sitting on his desk that have not yet been filed.
Would I feel safer, if I was that woman walking in Long Beach or broad daylight that was sexually assaulted and he wanted to file misdemeanor charges, how would you feel if that was your mother, your sister, your daughter?
I know how I would feel and that’s why we are all up here tonight and you are out here today and I’ve stepped down from the bench to step up for you.
Eric Siddall: Here’s the deal. For the past five years, crime in California has been going up both property crime and violent crime. And you can’t blame the district attorney for every rise in crime, but what you can say is he doesn’t have a solution.
I have a real solution in how to deal with violent crime in Los Angeles County. It involves targeting the worst offenders, the drivers of crime.
When we look at crime, we have to think about what crime really means. 70% of crime occurs in 5% of our neighbors. They’re the ones who get victimized. They’re the ones who need our voice and they need a district attorney who’s not going just say, well the stats show that from last year they’re down.
The trend is up. We are becoming unsafe compared to the rest of the country. There has been a remarkable shift in terms of where the trajectory of crime is going and it’s not in the right way and we need a DA who understands that and will make you safer.
Maria Ramirez: I want to thank all my colleagues here today, the candidates for telling you about the statistics, but I wanted to talk about how you feel and when you talk to your neighbors how they feel. That’s what we’re talking about.
Statistics are well and good and they inform us about the steps we must take to protect the community.
But how do you feel, and the reason that you don’t feel safe today is because the current district attorney refuses to prosecute crimes, refuses to use the enhancement that the legislature has given us to prosecute crimes.
He refuses to prosecute misdemeanors.
So, is there any wonder that we don’t feel safe today? Sure, it is not all his fault, but he certainly is a major factor in why we do not feel safe today. And as District Attorney, I will first of all enforce the laws and use the laws that the legislature has given us to protect all of you.
