It's never a good thing when locals warn you to stay out of their crime-infested city.

When it's the police themselves, well, then it's pretty obvious the city has a problem.

Which has brought us this:

The Los Angeles police are telling the public not to come into the area for Christmas because it’s like “The Purge” movie.

LAPD Detective Jamie McBride recently told media, “My [message] to anybody considering coming to Los Angeles is ‘Don’t,’ he said.  “We can’t guarantee your safety. It is really, really out of control […] It’s like that movie ‘Purge’ [sic]. Instead of 24 hours to commit your crime, these bad people have 365 days to commit whatever they want.” 

The video can be viewed at the Conservative Treehouse site here. A similar one is here:

And who better would know about the crime situation of a city than the local cops? 

A rabidly leftwing Soros-financed district attorney, a wokester political class that defunds the police, zero bail, an absentee mayor, and one brazen crime after another going unpunished seem to have amounted to a petri dish for the continuous crime that is now plaguing the huge sprawling city of Los Angeles. Not even the wealthy of Beverly Hills have been able to escape it, a wealthy philanthropist's wife was recently killed in her home in the one of the wealthier and presumably more protected parts of that wealthy city-within-the-big-city -- by a two-bit lowlife robber who should have been in jail, signaling that no one in that metropolitan area is really safe. The fancy Nordstrom's over at high-end 'The Grove' shopping center not far away with the same telephone prefix as Beverly Hills was recently targeted in a smash-and-grab mass looting. Rodeo Drive has had problems and been on the alert, too, as have the area's dining establishments, whose customers have been subject to mass robbings of their purses and watches by organized robbers. It's gotten so bad that Beverly Hills residents are arming up now.

According to Michael Shellenberger, writing for the New York Post a couple days ago:

“I’ve always been anti-gun,” said Debbie Mizrahie of Beverly Hills. “But I am right now in the process of getting myself shooting lessons because I now understand that there may be a need for me to know how to defend myself and my family. We’re living in fear.”

During Black Lives Matter protests last year, Mizrahie told The Post, her neighbor’s home was firebombed with Molotov cocktails.

“My kids were outside and they saw a huge explosion,” she said. “[The neighbor’s] backyard went up in smoke. Trees burned down … But it’s only gotten worse. Beverly Hills has been targeted.”

Mizrahie, a 40-something mother of two teenagers, isn’t alone. Ever since the protests last year descended into riots and lootings, a growing number of Beverly Hills residents have been buying weapons.

“It’s gotten to a point where residents feel insecure even going from their door to their car,” said resident Shirley Reitman. “A lot of residents are applying for a concealed carry weapon permit, even though that’s a great challenge in LA County.”

That's fancy, placid, green and lovely Beverly Hills. Imagine what the rest of the city is like.

The police union official's remarks come in stark contrast to what the police brass with their political concerns are saying -- that crime is down.

Last October, CBS2 reported that they were singing a different tune, and Los Angeles crime trends looked like this:

At the bottom of the page were statistics on shootings. There had been 1,202 shooting victims this year as of the morning briefing, an increase of nearly 20% over the 1,007 at the same point in 2020 and nearly 50% over the 802 at the same point in 2019.

There had been 326 homicides, compared with 277 last year. They included 72 cases in which the victim was homeless — a 33% increase over 2020 — and 35 in which the suspect was homeless.

The police chief at the time described the Los Angeles crime issue as a problem of "compounding."

Everyone knows that crime is out of control because criminals know they are going to get away with it. The police have been demonized, bail has been eliminated, and now the cops are helpless. The only thing to do now is get away from the place, as the police union official has urged. What a miserable message to see coming frrom the innards of the city. Seems Joe Friday's "the city" doesn't exist any more.

Image: Screen shot from Fox News video, via shareable YouTube

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