Alarmed over ‘justice’ system

I avoid writing in the checkbook’s ledger and dealing with governmental forms. Why? Given my dyslexic mind, I have an inordinate proclivity for turning order into chaos.

You ask, “How have you survived, and prospered, all these years?”

My response is: “Thanks, Honey!”

Like most households, ours becomes enmeshed in a huge, tax-related, paper shuffle sometime before April 15. This means my wife disappears into her office for days on end. Occasionally, one more form or receipt is “one too many!”

That’s how our city’s Alarm Registration Form ended up on my desk. And that’s why my wife appeared at the door of my office; a couple of cups of hot chocolate in hand, shortly thereafter. After listening to the 15-minute discourse, which followed her simple “What’s up?,” she asked: “Should we simply bag the alarm thing?” During our subsequent discussion we decided to continue with the alarm system.

Our main reason for doing so is that we no longer feel our neighborhood is as safe a place to live as it once was. Why? A number of people in our extended ’hood have had their homes broken into over the past five or so years. Most have been hit by opportunist thieves – smash, dash, and grab operatives. No immediate arrests were made even though an officer responded quickly, sometimes within two minutes of our neighbors’ summons.

At this point, one could easily launch into a Doug Clark-type rant, ravaging the competency and intelligence of our local police agencies. We can’t do that. You see, we feel our officers are doing a heck of a job. In fact we believe our “thin blue/green line” regularly performs their duties far beyond a reasonable level of expectation.

So, if the cops are doing their job, the root of our problem must lie with the folks occupying various city and county executive offices. Obviously, they’re the ones who imposed the tax on our alarm system, and, they’re the ones who have stood by and watched criminals take over our neighborhoods, right?

This argument makes no sense. The LaCombes voted for the current crop of city and county officials. We also cast our ballots in support of those who had preceded them in office. In our view, there isn’t, and hasn’t been, a lemon in either bunch.

You ask: “Have you been universally pleased with their decisions?” Absolutely not! Still, we feel that each and every one of our leaders has given it their sincere, best shot.

So if the police are doing their job, and if our local leaders are honestly doing their level best, why does there seem to be more crime in our neighborhoods?

I’ve come to believe that what happens in our judicial system after Steve McGarrett says “Book him, Danno” is at the heart of our problem.

If news reports accurately portray the situation, our booking rooms are little more than turnstile-type operations. Apparently defense attorneys, in some cases, are able to secure their client’s release almost as quickly as the ink dries on an officer’s charging document. One consequence of this is that a given criminal is out on the street, often returning to his/her life of crime immediately.

We have people living and operating in our communities who have been arrested 20, 30, even 40 times! Why is this happening?

Our legal community – I’m talking about legislators, practicing attorneys of various stripes, and judges sitting on diverse benches – has created this mess. They’ve created a world filled with tons of judgmental and legal equivocations, which in my view, condone, or color the way criminal activity is dealt with.

How do we “common folk” cope? Well, we buy house alarms, and live with the nagging fear that “we’re next!”

That’s not the way “the system” is supposed to work folks.