LA County Sheriff Villanueva Says Department Received a 'Criminal Threat Against the Lives of Our Deputies'

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks at a press conference on September 30, 2020. Screenshot, YouTube

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced Saturday that one of the department’s stations received a “criminal threat against the lives of our deputies.”

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Villanueva noted the threat was made on Friday and might have been caused by “false statements” at an oversight commission meeting at Loyola Marymount University. It’s no secret that leftist activists in Los Angeles County want to defund the police; some of them want to abolish the police altogether. That type of rhetoric is what leads to situations like these. This is not the first time LASD deputies have been in danger from threats.

A few days ago, the West Hollywood City Council voted to cut LASD funding for the next two budget years. These city councils defended their decision of defunding the LASD and LAPD, saying their goal was to “put that money in other social services.” Defunding law enforcement has led to more crime, fewer arrests, and a disgraced DA in George Gascon, who victimized criminals and dismissed many victims and families of those victims’ pleas to not reduce criminals’ time in prison and instead to make our streets safer.

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West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister was not happy about the decision by the city council to defund the LASD as crime is continuing to rise in their city.

“Most of the residents and businesses I have heard from are opposed to cutting the sheriff’s budget … They are outraged that people and organizations from outside our city are dictating to council how to run our city.”

Although the citizens of West Hollywood oppose defunding the LASD as crime increased 137% earlier this year, incoming mayor Sepi Shyne said it is time to defund the LASD because they spoke about reimagining the police, so they must act on it.

“We have talked for two years about re-imagining policing … You just can’t say it without actually doing it. Period.”

However, slowly but surely, even some of those who were calling for defunding law enforcement are realizing that defunding them is not and will never be the answer. The communities negatively impacted the most were minority communities.

This war on law enforcement must end. The result of all the rhetoric about law enforcement has now led to a criminal threat against LASD deputies. The sheriff’s office’s major crime unit is investigating the incident. Sherriff Villanueva put out a statement on the matter, saying:

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“Last night, East Los Angeles Sheriff Station received a criminal threat against the lives of our deputies. We are taking this seriously and have taken precautions. Our Major Crimes Bureau detectives have taken over the investigation and will continue to assess the threat as the investigation continues. The threat was possibly inspired by false statements made during a civilian oversight commission meeting held yesterday at Loyola Marymount University.”

It’s worth noting that Villanueva has opposed disgraced George Gascon from the very beginning. One of the reasons is his soft-on-crime approach and the danger police officers and sheriff deputies are in.

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