Californians have recently been treated to images of mountains of trash along the Union Pacific rail line in Los Angeles. CBS-LA reporter John Schreiber went to the site and took video of looted packages from Amazon and UPS, prescription drugs, “unused Covid tests, fishing lures, EpiPens. Cargo containers left busted open on trains.”
His videos went viral on social media, and many news reports followed.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the site Thursday and helped perform clean up for the cameras.
According to Fox News:
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom showed up Thursday with a clean-up crew and vowed action.
And the Democrat, dressed in a T-shirt, baseball cap and coronavirus mask, pitched in himself, joining crew members from the state Department of Transportation in grabbing handfuls of debris and placing the trash in bags or in a dumpster.
“What has happened on this stretch of the Union Pacific Railroad is unacceptable,” Newsom told reporters. He said the area looked like a scene from “a Third World country,” according to FOX 11 of Los Angeles.
It is unacceptable. But this has been going on for a long time, with little or no reported response from local or state government.
Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) reacted:
“First there were porch pirates, then smash-and-grab robberies, and now we have looters and thieves ransacking cargo trains; all of this happened under one-party rule in the state,” said Wilk. “Criminals know how to exploit California’s policies for their gain.
“Fancy press conferences by the governor are not going to discourage one single crime. Californians deserve safer communities, and Republicans look forward to fighting for every neighbor, retailer, and employer who is fed up with the Democrats’ ‘Criminals First’ public safety agenda. When Democrat policies fail, Republicans are there with good solutions,” said Wilk.
In a letter to Los Angeles County District Attorney, Union Pacific officials expressed their displeasure with the state’s soft-on-crime policies. Specifically, the letter reads, “These individuals are generally caught and released back onto the streets in less than twenty-four hours. Criminals boast to our officers that charges will be pled down to simple trespassing – which bears no serious consequence.”
The December Union Pacific letter (below) to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón explains just how bad it has been, and that this is no surprise:
Specifically, just over the past three months of intermodal peak season in preparation for holiday shopping, UP has had the following experience in Los Angeles County:
• On average, over 90 containers compromised per day.
• In partnership with Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), and California Highway Patrol (CHP) we estimate over 100 arrests have been made of active criminals vandalizing our trains. UP alone making several dozens of arrests.
• With our law enforcement partners we have deterred hundreds of individuals from trespassing and vandalizing our trains.
• Of all those arrests, however, UP has not been contacted for any court proceedings.
This increased criminal activity over the past twelve months accounts for approximately $5 million in claims, losses and damages to UP. And that value does not include respective losses to our impacted customers. Nor does it capture the larger operating or commercial impacts to the UP network or supply chain system in Los Angeles County
But rather than doubling down on the source of these crimes, Fox 11 LA reports Newsom praised Proposition 47, Proposition 57 and AB 109, claiming they had helped reduce crime in the state: Proposition 47, which downgraded some felonies to misdemeanors; Proposition 57, which reduced prison sentences; and Assembly Bill 109, which shifted detainees from state prisons to local jails, FOX 26 of Fresno reported.
Proposition 47, reduced a host of felonies to misdemeanors, including drug crimes, date rape, and all thefts under $950, even for repeat offenders who steal every day. Proposition 57 now allows newly-defined “nonviolent” felons to qualify for early release, and parole boards can now only consider an inmate’s most recent charge, and not their entire history because of this proposition.
Even with LA police catching and arresting the Union Pacific thieves, they are out within the day because of the two propositions Newsom claims to support. These “criminal justice reforms” have produced the stark increase of thefts and robberies.
Gov. Newsom says on his website:
One month ago, Governor Newsom rolled out his proposed Real Public Safety Plan, which directly addresses rail theft and calls for bolstering local law enforcement response, supporting prosecutors in their efforts to hold perpetrators accountable, and getting guns and drugs off our streets. The Plan includes $255 million in grants for local law enforcement to increase presence at retail locations and combat organized retail crime, along with $18 million to create a dedicated state team of special investigators and prosecutors in the Attorney General’s Office to prosecute cross-jurisdictional theft-related crimes.
None of this has stopped the railway theft yet. Only strong policing with legal consequences to the theft will.
The governor’s reaction might as well be pure theater – remember, he endorsed Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
View Comments (66)
Well, let us remember that it is "Organized Groups of Folks" doing this.
What planet is this governor on that he acts SURPRISED about the hell that has been going on for some time at the Union Pacific train tracks in L.A.? What kind of a lunatic governor PRAISES the reasons for it, which of course he supported, AB 109, Prop 47 and Prop 57? What kind of a PERSON, never mind a CA GOVERNOR, supports the other central reason for what's going on there, L.A. County D.A. George Gascon, whom he ENDORSED? And then he apologizes for saying "gangs," and replaces the word with "organized groups of folks?" (Huh?!) And WHO exactly is he pandering to when he does that? No one I've ever met or known of in my entire LIFE. Newsom is a joke and a clown ----- and every single day he becomes more preposterous than he was the day before, which is really saying something.
Blustering, fool comes to mind. “Shocked, shocked, I say!”, said Fog Horn, Leg Horn, AKA feckless Governor Newsom!
Actually, we, who live this reality on a daily basis are not shocked one bit! I have a question for those in leadership, when you degrade the police, when you defund the police, when you side with the criminal, what did you expect! I get it, you expected the gang of criminals to police themselves, be compassionate, be law abiding. After all they just needed to be let out of jail early to prove themselves!
What a joke and yes life in California does imitate art in this case, Looney Tunes!
So I will end with this, Ah, What’s Up Jerk?
You know things are really bad when we are no longer shocked at the anarchy and crime.
How soon did Newsom rip his mask off after posing for that photo op of him picking up a piece trash? Much of California not only looks like a third world country, it is governed like one under Newsom and the deep state Democrat cabal?
Exactly Samantha.
The trashed railways and increase in all crimes reflect the third world oppressive style governing demonstrated by one party rule!
This would not happen under leaders who subscribe to law and order government.
This must be an election year. Noisome is now campaigning against his own policies. It will not work. This tells me that they are not confidant they can fraud out the next election.
@CW I sincerely hope you are right.
@CW, Great observation! I hope you are so on the money!
Publicity stunt. Purely for self-promotion, mitigating criticisms of his policies and providing fodder for the leftist media and their sheep. So, why is Newsom’s approval rating still high? Folks, don’t get yourselves wound up in a dithering tizzy. Just understand that the criminal element is part and parcel of the Democrat Party and remove these leftists from office. Step 1: Retake control of the corrupted election process …. “Lenin endorsed the idea of robbing post offices, railway stations, trains, and banks. Under the lead of Leonid Krasin, a group of Bolsheviks began carrying out such criminal actions, the best known taking place in June 1907, when a group of Bolsheviks acting under the leadership of Joseph Stalin committed an armed robbery of the State Bank in Tiflis, Georgia.” (Wikipedia). https://www.eurasiareview.com/15012022-gavin-newsoms-2022-vision-oped/
Raymond, you are always a wealth of information! Thanks for the link!
Wow Governor Climate Change in action cleaning up one of the messes he created! And with a mask! What no French Laundry today?
Organized Groups. Organizing for America. Coincidence? I think not.
No kidding, CW.
Still waiting on the Globe Troll to try and spin this as a positive for Gruesome Newscum..!!! Ha ha ha..!!
Real sad how the State has declined to this level of 3rd World living under the totally Democratic Government.