GEORGE GASCON AS POPULAR AS ALVIN BRAGG

Former LAPD Chief rescinds support for soft-on-crime LA District Attorney 

 

By Marjorie Hernandez and Patrick Reilly

 

New York Post

February 12, 2022

 

 

Former Los Angeles Chief of Police Charles Beck is "compelled" to rescind his support of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón

 

Former Los Angeles Chief of Police Charles Beck on Friday said he was rescinding his support of accused soft-on-crime District Attorney George Gascón, who is facing a second recall effort.

Beck, who served as chief from 2009 to 2018, said he’d backed the DA during the 2019 campaign “on the hope he would advance public safety in Los Angeles and because of our close personal relationship of over 30 years.”

“After observing the negative effects of his policies and practices on public safety, I am compelled to rescind that endorsement,” Beck said in a statement.

The former chief said he believed LA cops and residents “would be made safer and better served by a District Attorney that emphasizes the rights of victims and the safety of our police officers.”

Beck pulled a complete about-face from the support he’d expressed for Gascón in a 2019 campaign video in which he said he has “absolute faith in only a few (people), and George is one of them.”

 

George Gascón received Beck’s endorsement during his campaign for LA County District Attorney in 2019 

 

Gascón is among several Democratic DAs in major cities who have come under fire for their progressive policies, including new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

Two weeks ago, The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters’ Office approved a second recall effort from fed-up Los Angelenos to force an election this November. Organizers must collect petition signatures from 566,857 registered voters, equivalent to 10 percent of the current total. New York does not have a recall system for elected officials.

Steve Cooley, who was the LA County District Attorney from 2001 to 2012, said supporters like Beck and other top officials are finally seeing the effects of Gascón’s policies, especially for victims and their families.

“This is the beginning of the beginning of the end (for Gascón),” Cooley told the Post. “What’s happening now is because of his own dangerous, arbitrary, and capricious policies, which is his downfall. And now, people are becoming more aware of it, and to some extent, the public is really seeing what he’s really doing to them. It took a while for the public to be educated on the effects of his policies.”

 

“This is the beginning of the beginning of the end,” Former LA District Attorney Steve Cooley told The Post of Gascón

 

Cooley said the victims and their families have been the driving force of this renewed effort to oust Gascón.

“They’re still the most eloquent spokespersons for the recall effort because they tell real stories about what happened to them as next of kin of murder victims,” Cooley said. “People listen to that, they care about it and they see themselves in that same situation and empathize. I think that the word ‘victim’ is at the center of this whole adventure with Gascó and his recall. He has totally abandoned the victims from the day he got sworn in and has  done nothing at all to assist victims.”

This has been the second attempt to recall Gascón. Last year’s recall effort did not gain a lot of momentum, but since then, the increase of smash-and-grab thefts, follow-home robberies and murders in LA County have re-energized his critics and made some top supporters like former chief Beck distance themselves from the DA.

Critics say Gascón’s policies, including no longer allowing for juveniles to be charged as adults, eliminating sentencing enhancements and getting rid of cash bail for non-violent felonies have contributed to the increase of lawlessness in the county.

 

Desiree Andrade, left, whose son Julien Andrade was murdered in 2018, is joined by other crime victims during a press conference to recall George Gascon on May 26, 2021

Gascón received sharp criticism when he refused to transfer a case of a 26-year old transgender woman who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year old girl. Hannah Tubbs received a much lighter sentence — two years—and is serving her time in a juvenile facility because she was a minor when the crime occurred. 

So far, at least 31 cities in LA County have voted “no-confidence” in Gascón, according to the Association of Deputy District Attorneys. 

“We are sick and tired of living in the pro-criminal paradise Gascon has created,” said Desiree Andrade and Tania Owen, co-chairs of the Recall DA George Gascon campaign said in a statement on the “Recall George Gascon” website. 

“Gascon turned his back on us, and now his policies are destroying Los Angeles County right before our eyes and needlessly creating more innocent victims.”