Letter to the Editor: Trujillo puts his job over his constituents

Dear Editor:

Since being elected, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has abandoned crime victims and their families. Gascón has disregarded the rule of law and weakened lawful sentencing requirements for the most violent criminals, including murderers, armed robbers and rapists. Gascón’s new policies treat career and repeat violent offenders as if they had never committed a crime, ignoring public safety laws approved by the people. Gascón has even reduced sentences on hate crimes, gun crimes, and gang crimes

At the Downey City Council meeting of Aug. 24, the interim police chief made an excellent presentation, showing a comparison of the number of arrests and charges filed in 2020 versus 2021. Her presentation showed that although the Downey Police Department continues to do their job of arresting individuals who break the law, of the cases submitted to the District Attorney’s office between January – July 2021, 40.5% of those were rejected. Looking solely at narcotics related cases, of the 86 filed, 78 or 90.7%, were rejected.

In addition, under Gascón new directives, no criminal charges are filed on misdemeanor cases, with the exception of a few, when there is a repeat offense within 24 months. Misdemeanor offences include trespass, driving with a suspended license, driving without a license, disturbing the peace, drug and paraphernalia possession, under the influence of drugs, minor in possession of alcohol, drinking in public / public intoxication, loitering, loitering for purpose of prostitution, resisting arrest, criminal threats. How can anyone say that our cities are safe when offenders in many cases are only getting a written citation. How is not prosecuting individuals for crimes committed keeping our cities safe?

It has become clear that Councilman Mario Trujillo supports the new policies of Gascón, and as he “interrogated” the interim police chief during her presentation, his focus was to show that despite the new directives, the Downey Police Department continues to do their job. What Mr. Trujillo did not address was the lack of consequences the new directives have created. Offenders are either only getting a citation, not being prosecuted, and of those who are prosecuted, they are getting the lightest possible sentence. In June 2021, Sheriff Alex Villanueva reported that homicides in Los Angeles County were up 95% over the same period in 2020, he attributes this to “less cops, more crooks, less consequences”.

Mr. Trujillo has miserably failed the community of Downey that he was elected to represent, he continues to ignore the dangers of Gascón’s new directives. He continues to ignore the various requests from Downey residents to have a vote of no confidence by the Downey City Council on Gascón’s directives. Shame on you, Mr. Trujillo, we will not forget.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the impact to our communities by Gascón’s directives is invited to attend a meet and greet with child abuse prosecutor Jonathan Hatami on Saturday, Sept. 18, from 1–3 p.m. at Desert Reign Church, 11610 Lakewood Blvd., Downey.

Ana Brown
Downey