In recent years, Los Angeles has been plagued by rampant crime, with many residents in Chinese neighborhoods, especially women, feeling the impact more strongly. In the city of San Gabriel where many Chinese businesses are located, a Chinese female business owner had her car parked in the underground garage vandalized twice within 13 months, with valuables stolen. The most recent incident earlier this month resulted in a total loss of over $20,000 worth of stolen items.
Tiffany, who runs an immigration business, held a press conference on Friday, October 11th, along with a Southern California lawyer and a candidate for the 49th District State Assembly, Longzhu Liu, to express the pain and anxiety brought by the deteriorating security situation in Los Angeles.
Around 3:50 pm on the 2nd of this month, Tiffany parked her car in the underground garage at the Gold World Plaza where her office is located. When she returned half an hour later, she found the rear side window of her car smashed. On that day, she had left some valuable items in the car temporarily as she had planned to meet with clients. These items included a Longchamp brand bag, a CHANEL classic pebble grain women’s backpack, two pairs of sunglasses, newly purchased makeup, $3,500 in cash, and more. Excluding the damage to the vehicle, the loss of property alone exceeded $20,000.
What angered her even more was that the thief also took her car insurance document, vehicle registration, repair bills, etc. Tiffany is now very concerned that the thief might come to her home due to having her address from the repair bill. Despite changing the locks, she continues to live in fear every day.
On September 21st of last year at the same location, Tiffany also experienced her vehicle being vandalized, resulting in a loss of about $5,000. Following that incident, the property management of the plaza added an iron gate to the underground parking lot. For safety reasons, this time Tiffany specifically parked her car inside the gate, but to her surprise, the car window was still smashed.
After reporting to the police, Tiffany reviewed surveillance footage and saw two seemingly African-American men driving into the parking lot, parking beside luxury cars like Mercedes and BMW. After checking several cars, they turned towards the underground parking lot and inspected luxury vehicles one by one. Upon noticing a bag behind the driver’s seat of Tiffany’s car, they broke the window and stole the items.
In addition to the car theft incidents, this commercial plaza has also experienced frequent break-ins and theft at shops. A few days after Tiffany’s car window was smashed last year, nearby massage parlors and restaurants were also robbed.
After reporting to the police, a police officer from the San Gabriel Police Department arrived, documented the loss, and issued a police report to Tiffany for her to retrieve surveillance footage. Worried about her safety, Tiffany immediately retrieved the footage the next day and sent it to the investigating officer that same evening.
She then called the police department to inquire further, and the dispatcher instructed her to email the investigating officer and await a response. Over the next few days, until the day of the press conference, Tiffany sent three or four emails but had not received a response. She said, “I feel particularly helpless.”
On Sunday morning, a reporter from the Epoch Times also emailed the police department for inquiries but had not received a response as of the time of writing.
Tiffany is particularly puzzled by the lack of response since her vehicle was vandalized last year and no follow-up was done by the police. Friends reassured her that currently, the police department is short-staffed and underfunded, and it may not necessarily be that the police are unwilling to investigate, but rather they may be overwhelmed with a high volume of cases.
Longzhu Liu believes that since the police have reviewed the surveillance footage, it should be straightforward to identify the owners of the suspect vehicles. “After obtaining the license plate number, identifying the vehicle owner is just a matter of 2 minutes,” he said.
He speculated that the lack of a proactive response from the police could be due to two reasons: either too many cases to handle or a prevailing culture in California where some view criminals as individuals in need of help, while the real victims become subjects of ridicule. For instance, when Tiffany lamented on social media about her ordeal, she received much mockery.
Liu praised Tiffany for her courage in speaking out and reporting the incident. He stated that such incidents occurring frequently in Los Angeles are not just about monetary losses but also make people feel constantly unsafe, living in fear. “If you are constantly anxious, no matter how good your car is, how big your house is, or how well you eat, if you have to keep going out to check your car every now and then, then your life has no quality,” he added.
Liu pointed out that the worsening security situation is directly related to the passage of the “Bill 47” in 2014. This bill no longer prosecutes thefts and robberies under $950 and some drug dealers as felonies, adopting a lenient policy that allows many wrongdoers to continue committing crimes.
Therefore, he believes that changes need to start from a legislative level to address the current situation, which is also why he actively ran for the 49th District State Assembly in California.
Liu urged the Chinese community to actively participate in supporting Proposition 36, which aims to abolish laws that enable criminals, to reverse the chaos in California’s security.