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SLO County sending law enforcement to LA as looting, violence escalates

May 30, 2020

San Luis Obispo County law enforcement agencies are sending 48 deputies and officers to Los Angeles after primarily peaceful protests on Saturday afternoon over the death of George Floyd, turned violent.

A man breaking the door open of a Whole Foods in Los Angeles. Dozens of looters then stormed the store.

On Saturday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti asked the National Guard and area law enforcement agencies to assist with the escalating violence and vandalism. While protestors held signs and chanted, rioters threw bottles at officers, broke windows, tagged buildings, looted stores and set fires, according to video footage by reporter Josh Friedman.

An Urban Outfitters after rioters broke out windows, looted the store, and set a manikin on fire.

In response to the plea for assistance, the SLO County Sheriff’s Department deployed 35 deputies, the Atascadero Police Department sent five officers, the Pismo Beach Police Department sent two officers, the Paso Robles Police Department sent three officers, and the Cal Poly Police Department sent two officers.

A man broke a window, snatched several pillows, and broke more windows. Others entered the store, looted, and then set mattresses on fire.

Garcetti also set an 8 p.m. curfew, which appeared to be largely ignored, according to video footage by Friedman.

A police line, shortly before a protestor threw a bottle at officers, who responded with tear gas.


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We also have to remember the courts have ruled many times that we have no expectation of protection by the police, the motto ” To protect and serve” is meaningless, unless you define to protect and serve who.


3

Committing arson, burglary, felony vandalism, and criminal mayhem are not behaviors associated with protesting, they are criminal acts that are associated with rioting, and I wish the media would be clear in their reporting. Violent protests are not protests, they are criminal acts, and to allow them to occur is ridiculous. Law and order is necessary and should not be allowed to be ignored. There is no justification for what these lawless perps are doing. Change will occur if we focus on the type of individual being recruited as police officers. Currently there is a particular type of personality being sought after for police, and as long as that remains the desired trait, then what we see will continue. The mentality of policing communities is totally skewed, and until that is addressed, change is not going to happen. Police have the idea that they are above the people, and that needs to change. They are granted their powers by the people in order to protect and serve the people. What we have today is no where near that attitude. Until sociopathic hard driving authoritarian, power hungry individuals are no longer allowed to wear a badge, nothing will change. There is a very fine line between a cop and a criminal, and the reason for that is because they share many of the same traits. That is the problem.


6

Perhaps if police were trained firstly as EMTs like fire fighters are, it might rein a bit more compassion, speaking as an EMT grad. What has happened in terms of anarchy is devastating, even if the status quo is bad. I sobbed at the destruction, the violence, the loss of life. I couldn’t sleep last night. This destruction wasn’t political, it was a disgrace of humanity and babylon burnt down along with our freedoms. Inherent issues cannot be addressed without democracy and peace for one another. Even now writing this I’m holding back sorrow. Slo county is a model for peaceful protests be it to Oppose politicians and to open up our state, or to protest the status quo of systemic law enforcement violence. I think we all can say we’ve had our run in with real Peace officers and the alternative Police officers. I’m proud of our north and south slo county. It’s a shame Santa Maria crumbled to greed, destruction and violence. We are so damn lucky to live here in CA even with the issues. We have access to medicine, school and social services, and to just burn it down, my god.


-1

“Until sociopathic hard driving authoritarian, power hungry individuals are no longer allowed to”….serve as President of the United States, “nothing will change.”


-9

There ya go, yup, that right, it’s all Trump’s fault…


Gettin old


6

Yup, “gettin old.” Thankfully only five more months of Trump’s nonsense.


-5

SLO County police: check the TP dispenser for your weapons before leaving the restaurants on the way down.


19

OH THE HYPOCRISY IS TOO MUCH TO BEAR! Notice how thousands of citizens peacefully flocking to beaches to relax caused SO much outrage last week, they were NOT following the narrative, but thousands of protestors, caring NOT about social distancing, masks or covid can gather with none of the lecturing, condemnation, posturing or whining about rebound/or second wave of virus. SOO this virus avoids the “righteous” following the “agenda”? The left is SO ripe these days.


33

So, we see a lot of examples here where people are breaking the “social contract” that we adapt in order to have a civilization. That contract, loosely translates that we behave a certain way and society will protect us and help us to thrive. Well, think about how many people of color have seen that contract broken all their lives, by white people who are able to do so without repercussions. Don’t want to think about that? Well, they have no choice.


If you had to watch a video of someone you actually care about (assuming that person exists) being crushed by the weight of three police officers, even though they had been convicted of no crime and offered no resistance, while medical personnel screamed, begged them to stop before they killed him, until they died. Or shot dead in their own home, which was invaded by LE by mistake and again, no accountability, or your unarmed child was shot dead playing near your home, or you were stopped in traffic by LE and shot dead for absolutely no apparent reason and yet again, no accountability. Or chased down and shot while obviously doing nothing but jogging where the LE lived? What if that happened several times every day, all across the country?


Explain to me why these people should be willing to abide by the “social contract” that benefits only ourselves?


Perhaps you think that shooting looters is a good idea! Imagine who would be attracted to that career. Whomever has been put on the street, with minimal training as “enforcement” becomes judge and jury, someone dies over a TV. OK with that? OK. Say you are on the street and some looters suddenly appear and the LE shoots all of you. Hey, your fault for being there, bud. And they can (and will) also say you were looting, even if you were not. Happens all the time to blacks. Why not you? I’m sure ya’ll are all good with draconian punishment and primitive “justice” and big talk as long is it is happening to someone with whom you choose not to identify.


And just what should be done with the red neck white Fascist goons slouching around with their AK’s who want to start the “boogaloo” civil war? The FBI has identified them as more of a threat to national security than Al Qaeda. They’re getting into the act here, inciting violence and will turn things a lot more ugly than they already are. Want to be a part of that, Mr. BIG TALK?


Lame in the extreme, dudes. Grow up and help bring about social justice to heal this country. The problem is already big enough.


-55

Hysterical.., calm down please…


There are mostly good people out there, black, white, peace officers and civilian….


The VAST majority of protesters across the nation, and the world are doing so peacefully.


Don’t get too sucked into the news headlines. For all the news media , ( and yes that includes FOX, CNN, MSNBC, WP, NY Times, all of them) they love this stuff and love to embellish.


FEAR is big business.


20

There is a flip side of the social contract: if you do not behave in a certain way, society will punish you. If you steal and loot, you must get punished. Otherwise it is a breach of the “social contract”.


5

The flip side to you flip side..


..they (minorities) are punished anyway with uneven application of the law, so why not loot? Obeying the rules doesn’t always work out so well for them.


-12

The cops sure do make a lot of money and get ridiculous benefits that need to go away (retirement and health care for life at age 50), but when they are actually needed it seems like they can’t muster the courage to step up and protect the public as we have seen across the country this weekend.


-38

Perfect storm.


You have a bunch of people out of work, receiving unemployment and fiscal stimulus checks, so they’ve no need to be out looking for work.


They’ve been cooped up for months reading one another’s internet blogs and conspiracy theories while taking the edge off their anxiety by smoking weed (thank God cannabis sales was deemed an essential service).


Governments have required people wear face masks (hello Jesse James), so no worries about looking out of place in a crowd and no chance of being recognized by facial recognition software if you do something wrong like hit someone with a pipe or smash a window with a brick.


Then a death of an African American male occurs at the hands of a racist cop in Minneapolis (the cop has to be a racist; just being a dumb ass doesn’t stir people up enough) and you have the thing that brings all this together; the spark that lights the fuse.


With no need to get a job right now (protesting is way more fun than making non fat Chai Tea Lattes for a bunch of suburban housewives) protestors are free to make this their full time occupation (as long as the checks keep coming; gotta pay for Spotify and their weed deliveries) and that means it’s going to be a long hot summer folks.


47

And your infor waiving your rights to privacy via facial recog just like Communist China huh?


-3

Facial recognition software used on cameras in public places is legal, whether or not I approve of it. What isn’t legal is masked rioters running around destroying property. Are you in favor of that?


3

“Pants up, Don’t Loot”.


43

As people leave the stores laughing and smiling with stolen merchandise it is clear that the looters are merely opportunists.


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