SB 553 legislation page
 
Short version: this bill requires employer policies that basically discourage a business owner from allowing employees to intervene in thefts, opening up the business to lawsuits from both employees and the criminals.
 
Decent newspaper article about SB 553
 
California business owners and retail employees are sick of being robbed blind. The Legislature, seeing all the violence involved in these incidents, decides to put the onus on the businesses. Rather than increase penalties to deter crime and punish criminals, the state wants to “make it safer” for employees through workplace safety standards.
 
Many of us had menial jobs like fast food or retail where boring training videos tell you basically to give up the cash if robbed. Makes sense from a liability standpoint and if the state will actually attempt to apprehend and punish the criminals. However, as the state has abrogated that duty SB 553 now wants to minimize bad press of shoplifting turning to robberies by blaming the victims.
 
The bill originally sought to force employers to create plans for non-security guard employees on how shoplifting (theft) confrontations. Such incidents would basically fall under OSHA regulations. This creates a perverse disincentive for businesses allowing employees to intervene; if an employee is assaulted, there is now an avenue of approach for a shady worker’s comp lawyer to sue the employer.

• Don’t have a policy? “That’s illegal and having a policy and training could have kept my client from being injured when they told that thief ‘Hey, you gotta pay for that!’”
• The policy says employes can intervene? “Now you’re liable for my client’s injuries inflicted by that robber because you said it was okay for them!”
• The policy is ambiguous? “If your policy was clear and you trained my client right, maybe this wouldn’t have happened!”

 
Now I’m not saying that’s what would happen in any case, but shysters will exploit anything to make a buck and businesses are wary of liability like this. So it becomes easier for a retailer to say “Just don’t do anything that could get someone hurt or the company sued.” Employees as a result do nothing, lowering the bar for theft. Combine this with a slow or no police response and prosecutors who don’t press charges and retail theft is basically consequence-free.
 
A major tenant of leftist, progressive policies is blame shifting. Blame the victim rather than the offender. By opening up potential workplace safety violations, the risk of employer liability increases, thus it creates the perverse incentive to require employees to do nothing. If an employer can argue that their training was for their staff to just let it happen, then the employee is responsible for their injuries as they broke store policy. That’s to say nothing of what the criminal’s civil attorney could do.
 
So without legalizing shoplifting, the state seeks to do that through the law of unintended consequences. SB 553 is the camel’s nose under the tent of actually prohibiting things like citizen’s arrest for property crimes. Mark my words: California will probably ban private citizens from arresting retail thieves which will really neuter businesses and de facto legalize shoplifting.
 
Sept. 7 update: The employer or union can seek a TRO on behalf of an employee; essentially banning repeat offenders from the business. As we all know, restraining orders are rather worthless, but hey, I guess CVS can get the crazy bums arrested now if they don’t stay away (assuming the cops care).

California will be hit by Hurricane Hilary in all likelihood as a tropical storm. This has not happened to an appreciable degree since the 1930s. Effects from this storm, beyond heavy rainfall, is unclear at this time, but let’s review potential impacts and preparatory measures.
 
Bottom line up front: What’s the danger? Minor inconveniences, like power outages.
 
A tropical storm has sustained wind (not gusts) of at least 39 miles per hour, this puts it in Beaufort Scale 7 High Wind or Near Gale. Whole trees move and the wind is strong enough to make walking difficult. Santa Ana wind gusts at this level causing minor inconveniences.
 
Weak trees and branches may be toppled or knocked down. Loose roofs or shingles may be damaged. Weak doors may be blown open if facing directly into the wind. Debris will be blown around. Aside from power outages, the major damage will probably just be messes. Stepping it up into the likely gust range, Beaufort Scale 9 or Gale, the wind blows at (46 - 53 mph). Trees are much more prone to damage. Weak fences, sheds, and roofing is at much higher risk for damage.
 
Now the major risk to most is power outages due to lines being blown/knocked down. At worst, virtually everyone will have at most three days without power, though most will get it back more quickly than that. Assuming that Hilary does blast SoCal and DWP, SoCal Edison, and PG&E are busy stringing power lines back up, your grocery store will be devoid of batteries on Monday.
 
My suggestion is to go out and buy batteries now. Get rechargeable Eneloop batteries (buy the charger too). They don’t suffer the same problems as old NiCad batteries and by recharging these things you’ll save a ton of money. There is also the obvious application to SHTF preps by not having to store 100lbs of Duracells because your police scanner eats AAs like a fat person in the M&Ms factory.

Also get battery charging packs, commonly called power packs or portable phone chargers. These are just batteries with USB attachments that can charge your phone or other small electronics. These are good to have for rechargeable flashlights and other such appliances. Their small size may limit their utility to powering anything that isn’t handheld but their size is beneficial in that it doesn’t take much to charge them. They won’t overtax charging in a car and they work well with small, portable solar panels.
 

For larger items, like big radios, small TVs, or even some appliances like small refrigerated coolers, get the bigger power stations like Goal Zeros. These will need to be charged off the grid or a generator, but having one on standby for things like drunk-drive induced power outages or earthquakes is a great standby. You’ll never get one that can run your chest freezer for a weekend, but they are big enough to run fans, TVs, and surprisingly more appliances than you’d think, if you size correctly.

Whatever these portable power stations says they are, they are not “generators.” They do not generate electricity, they store it and release it later. These are battery packs. And you don’t need brand names, just one that’s well reviewed.
 
Many of these power stations can charge off of solar panels (sold by the same manufacturer or using third-party models). I recommend that they be purchased when a generator is bought so that you can get “free” stored energy while the generator is running your fridge, freezer, A/C or whatever. If it’s burning gas already, why not use some of the electrical output to be saved later when you turn it off? These power stations are also good buffers against brownouts or rolling outages.

For those who work from home or are doing critical stuff like storm tracking, where you need your computer and monitors (or radio and TV) to stay up constantly, get a UPS. A Uninterrupted Power Supply is a battery and surge protector, basically. It acts as a power supply where the battery is always charged off the mains electricity and your devices are powered off that battery. So, there is never a moment where everything goes dark and the computers have to play “catch up” as they reboot after suddenly shutting off. Usually more critical for avoiding lost work on old desktops, but it may help techie preppers. Remember, if the power goes out so will the Internet in most places.
 
For generators, see this thread on Twitter where I make some recommendations. Californians already can’t get some stuff here, and regulations will make the supply of generators tighter in 2024, then ban them entirely in 2028. Buy your generator now and don’t forget the extra gas cans.

Also buy gas. Fill up your cars early and keep them topped off. Fill up 10-20 gallons of extra gas just in case a refinery goes offline or some other weirdness happens. Buy the gas cans now. I doubt you’ll have any serious gasoline shortage, but having plenty in the garage is better than queuing up at Costco with 1000 of your neighbors. Get propane too (barbecue bombs and 1lb green bottles) if you use that.
 
Communications are important too. Cell phone towers are easily overwhelmed in emergencies. During the 2018 Woosley fire I lived near an evacuation center and there was zero cellular data available due to having so many people in a small area. Reception already sucked midtown too. If stuff gets crazy, it may be hard to make a call or send a text, let alone get information. In fact, after the main Internet cable coming into the county was destroyed/cut during the fire, we had only radio due to the lack of broadcast TV signal reception and the aforementioned cellular data problems.
 
You can get some Baofeng radios and use them in the gray area for FRS/GMRS communications, then keep them for when you get your ham license. Or, you can get some bubble pack FRS radios for short range (like in the neighborhood) comms. GMRS with better antennas can reach out further, like across a small city. I talk about that in my book Basic SHTF Radio, which is for people who have no clue about radio or where to start.
 
Finally, hit the grocery store. Go light on the perishables in case the power goes out, but have a week to two weeks of extra food that’s easy to cook. Have snacks and treats in case things get stressful. Focus on what’s easy to prepare and stores forever, like canned goods. Don’t be like the French toast people who riot over eggs, white bread, and milk.

Baofeng 4-pack FRS radios
Baofeng 2-pack GRMS radios
Frankly, I prefer the Woxun KG-805G as they are easier to use for most people than Baofengs and are only GMRS/FRS, perfect for the family. I replace the antennas on these, but they are great radios that my mutual assistance group uses for GMRS. Remember that FRS/GMRS can talk to each other!

Finally, hit the grocery store. Go light on the perishables in case the power goes out, but have a week to two weeks of extra food that’s easy to cook. Have snacks and treats in case things get stressful. Focus on what’s easy to prepare and stores forever, like canned goods. Don’t be like the French toast people who riot over eggs, white bread, and milk.
 
Food and supplies aren’t really a problem unless you live in an isolated area. Grocery shopping may be annoying but we all survived 2020, right? Well, some of us. But recall the grocery store that collapsed from too much snow on the roof in the mountains outside LA. Similar things might happen with wind or rain. Also, flash flooding may close off isolated areas or even destroy bridges across Interstates and highways in the desert.
 
Should you board up your windows? Probably not, but it depends on your location and the exact Weather Service forecast for winds. Might want to have some plastic sheeting and plywood lying around to patch anything, just in case, although this is probably applicable to only San Diego and Imperial Counties at this time. Areas inland from the coasts 10-20 miles usually don’t get the worst wind from East Coast hurricanes, or so I’m told.
 
So why the danger of death index is low on this story for most Californians, it could result in some annoying inconveniences. Order stuff now, have it shipped for the fastest delivery possible (Prime membership, FTW) or buy it locally. Time is running out.

I can highly recommend this book. Practical, useful phrases chosen with the insight from actual police officers/deputies. I actually took two classes from the author when he taught basic Spanish for bilingual certification for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department (as it was back then). Very good teacher, very good book.

A short review is you can basically open this up and read the relevant phrases if you need to, say at a felony stop. So if you need to learn specific law enforcement phrases or want to round out your rudimentary Spanish, get this book.

I posted on Twitter about the importance of knowing your local police patrol beats. While this is more of a SHTF kinda thing, it's beneficial to know for general scanner monitoring or having an idea of how many cops are covering your area. It's also an excuse to post about Ventura County Sheriff's Office beats, so why not?

Most of this information in each state is public information. I pulled this PDF off the public website some years ago. I presume it's still there. If not, a public records request or even a polite email to Crime Analysis can probably get one for you. These beat maps don't change much.

Note this applies only to VCSO, but systems are somewhat similar in the local cities.

So the beats correspond to patrol call signs. Number (east/west county patrol), Letter (beat), 1 or 2 (shift, 1 is day/2 dawn), number (beat number). So 9A21 would be TO patrol, Adam beat, dawn shift, car #1.

1 Ojai
2 Moorpark
3 West County
4 East County
5 (call signs only) Special Services/detectives/SA
6 Fillmore
7 (call signs only) Custody/Special Services
8 Camarillo
9 Thousand Oaks
10 not used
11 Todd Road transportation

VCSO beat maps PDF

Support my work, buy my books! These books talk about policing Ventura County.

The problem of brutality, excess, and corruption comes from a lack of definition and not knowing where the line lays. Men cross over the line because they have not been instilled with a deep and intimate knowledge of what it is they are fighting for. They are not fighting individual crimes, drugs, or gangs; they are fighting for the law. They are fighting violations of the principles that make civilization civilized.

​Those principles are honor, justice, and integrity. The everyday crimes of passion can and are dealt with ably under today’s methods. The failure there is with the criminal justice system that fails to charge criminals, prosecute them properly, or give them a sentence that will incapacitate them or dissuade them. Those who would be incapacitated or dissuaded under the current system aren’t because the system is broken.

When it comes to corruption, the pursuit of individual crimes or ‘evil’ (violent, heinous crimes, gangs, drugs, etc.) detracts from the actual enforcement of the law. Lesser crimes are overlooked in order to handle the bigger ones. The idea that minor crimes create a positive atmosphere for larger ones to be bred and flourish is ignored. ‘Law enforcement’ and the maintenance of ‘law and order’ becomes simply crime suppression. Keep the crimes manageable and under the radar of the citizenry, and all is well.

We don’t enforce the law. We suppress crime. The law is used as a tool to arrest and prosecute criminals and ensure that the public is kept safe and happy. We use phrases like ‘law and order’ and ‘law enforcement,’ but that’s not what we mean. The law isn’t enforced; it’s a tool. Traffic violations and minor crimes are ignored unless they are a tool to execute the larger goals. The reason most cops ignore the minor stuff is because their system ingrains them to think that it is beneath them. They are keeping the peace, fighting the war against evil. They fail to realize that evil is not crime, but the failure to do what is right.

What is lacking from this battle is a respect for the law. It is not a tool, it is the guiding principles set by our society to decide what is right. Adherence, enforcement, and respect for the law is good. The law cannot be seen as a good idea, just guidelines, or anything else. In the absence of religion, the law is good and righteousness.

The war between good and evil, cops versus criminals, cannot be fought the way it is being fought. I argue that it isn’t a war being fought, just secondary battles of attrition. Piecemeal attacks against criminals, arresting some but not others based on the arbitrary distinction of what is serious enough to merit punishment is the wrong thing. What makes one person who breaks the law different than anyone else?

We claim to be society of justice and equality based on law. We are all equal under the law. So why is a murderer any different than a drunk driver who kills someone? Both have taken lives, yet the drunk might spend only a year in jail while the murderer is executed. Whose victim was harmed more? Which is more dead? Why does one who parks illegally, with more concern for their convenience than the convenience and safety of others, often ignored while vagrant who is panhandling arrested and fined? What is the greater harm to society? An annoying, dirty man or a car that keeps others from parking or causes an accident?

Police have to make these distinctions every day. It isn’t a distinction in the sense of “do I write this motorist a ticket or do I chase after that murderer over there?” The distinction is in what can be ignored and what can’t. When one crime is looked at as lesser than another in an abstract concept for arbitrary reasons, the police officer is guilty of having contempt for the law.

Making one violation worse than another when the ‘minor’ violation could be immediately and adequately addressed is contempt of the law. Police officers are not to make the distinction of what crime is more heinous than another. If your job is to fight felonies, fight the felonies, but if it is to enforce the law, enforce the law—every last jot and tittle of it.

The Apostle James regards violations of the law (in context the Jewish law) as equal. The results and nature might be different, but the violation is still a violation. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10).

Why are they ignored? Because police are trained and it is reinforced by their culture to ignore the ‘minor’ violations. If you have time, if you are bored, if that is what you have to do, then do it. Otherwise, ignore it and only use it as a tool to ‘fight the war’ on crime. The mentality that exists is to seek out the worst crime occurring, even if it detracts from ‘law enforcement.’ Ignore the traffic violation that might kill someone; a felony might be occurring in your beat.

This attitude of ‘priority,’ disrespect for the law, and the idea that minor violations are not crimes is what breeds brutality, excess, and corruption. Since the police feel there is bigger fish to fry, the ‘little fish’ can break their ‘little laws’ and so can the police. ‘Little laws’ can be disregarded and broken. Certain things don’t apply to police and the police must break the ‘little laws’ at times to get their job done, but coupled with contempt for the ‘little laws’ and the bigger picture being felonies or what have you, the system of law breaks down.

Important laws, such as civil rights, can be broken to capture and convict the big, bad criminal. Corruption can be tolerated so long as the citizenry is protected and the bad guys go to jail. Of course, in the face of such ambiguity without the morality of the law, the identity of who the bad guy is flexible.

Is it the corrupt cop, who murders, tortures, and steals, but got rid of the serial killer and busted the major drug ring? Do we let this corrupt cop prey on the citizens he demands bribes from and are we okay when he lets a powerful or rich person get away with a crime? Is it then alright for him to ignore the law in his personal life, so long as he becomes our protector?

When the respect for the law, all of it, is replaced with contempt for the ‘lesser’ portions of it, the system breaks down and heads for the slippery slope. Our law is thrown out and perverted. It is then used as a tool of oppression. Look at most of the modern dictatorial regimes. They had laws and frequently used them to oppress their enemies and suppress the citizenry. The law was their tool to keep order; the order they power they wanted. The law is supposed to be the guide for life established by society to keep order and define what is good and evil, right and wrong.

Honor and integrity makes the law effective. Equality and justice under the law means that the law is equally and fairly applied to the major and minor violations. Police cannot ignore what they want to, based upon their own ideas, a desire simply to keep society out of chaos, or because they are lazy. As the Broken Windows theory demonstrated, little violations lead to big ones, and when the police determine what is a crime and what isn’t (outside the law) the law becomes ill-relevant.

The law as a tool, the law as just a set of ‘nice guidelines’, or the law as just rules for the lesser people is what the darkness is. The darkness that society faces is the lack of law. We can lack it absolutely or we can lack it in enforcement. When the law is something to win a ‘game’ with, and not the foundation of civilization, we are better off without ‘law enforcement.’

In extremely corrupt police agencies, the police don’t protect anyone except the aristocracy and themselves. Chaos reigns, policing is pointless, the law simply a joke, and humanity has become savages battling one another as they have since antiquity. The law cannot be taken in context of crime or evil; it must set the context of crime and be the bedrock of what is good so that we might know evil. 
 
The problem with modern policing is it fails to acknowledge human nature and views the maintenance of peace and order as paramount. It is called ‘law enforcement’ but it is not because too much of the law is ignored when it is inconvenient or does not suit the maintenance of peace and order. The law is used as a tool useful for accomplishing the foregoing, instead of being the foundation of policing.

Enforcing the law is secondary, as we see police doing every day. Traffic violations and minor infractions are ignored in pursuit of more serious crimes, whether or not such serious crimes are happening at the moment or the arrest of those serious criminals would make a difference.

The public at large does not care if every little violation of the law is being properly addressed or not. They want to be safe and live in a world where danger is as predictable as can be. The fact is, serious crimes do not happen to the majority of people. What they want is not to be burglarized, come in contact with the unpleasant addicts, vagrants, and gang members, and to have their complaints immediately and fully resolved by the police.

The public sees the police as law enforcement. Most people obey the law, even the ones that they disagree with or are inconvenient, because of a fear of the law. No one wants to get in trouble and this is enough of a deterrent for most people most of the time. The police are the people who will get one in trouble if the law is broken. One might think that a vigilant cop is hiding behind every bush and stop sign. As society, this is what we want. It keeps us honest, at peace with our neighbors, and our life is orderly. The law cannot give us this fear on its own, but that is why the police are “the long arm of the law.”

In some communities, this isn’t the case. The priorities are not any different, but the idea of the law and its enforcers are. People hate the police because of actual or perceived harassment. Naturally, areas with a high criminal element will see the police as a threat. Even when the police are doing their job as they ought, places with low respect for the law will not respect the police. The existing values are contrary to the values of the police and the “law and order” society. The law and police can’t change this

But the attitudes of criminals and those that empathize with them are not the problem. Nor is it the fact that the law cannot control passion, mental illness, or stupidity. Crimes will still occur even with the best, most complete policing and law enforcement, and criminal will still hate the cops and disrespect the law.

The problem is with ‘law enforcement’ itself and the criminal justice system. Law enforcement fails to adequately focus on enforcing the laws and rather on keeping people safe and society orderly. Yes, this is their duty and the whole purpose of police, but in a society of laws, the police must perform law enforcement.

What is the distinction between ensuring peace and order and law enforcement? In ensuring peace and order, the goal is to keep people feeling safe, whether they are or not, and to maintain order, that is to prevent anarchy from taking over. The law defines prohibited behavior that would breach the peace and cause disorder. Unfortunately, the problem with policing today is that the law is seen largely as a tool, rather than a bedrock.
 
 

​Aside from the week I spent with my Twitter profile locked as “Dawn Shift,” a very attractive AI generated blonde, I was never trans. I do have some deep connections with it.
 
As a young teen, I learned that a distant uncle was actually an aunt. Apparently, she felt more like a boy than a girl (a tomboy) growing up on Navy bases across the world and that her parents wanted a second son. I’ll note at this point that all of this began 30-40 years ago, which may surprise some of you.
 
She de-transitioned and took care of my grandparents until the end. While the surgeries she went were minimal and cosmetic, she never looked or sounded like a woman again. The years of hormones had done their damage and she looked more like a bad transvestite than a woman. The program that she used to de-transition was a Christian-based one and now is illegal in many states. My aunt died of natural causes not long ago having dedicated the remainder of her life helping those de-transitioning.
 
In college over a decade ago, I had very close female friend and classmate. She had been molested in her youth and unsurprisingly considered herself a lesbian/bisexual. Some time after we became friends she began revealing a curiosity about masculine features. As a butch, this wasn’t shocking. Plenty of guys have wondered what it would be like to have boobs.
 
Sadly, this curiosity about what having body hair and a mustache or beard grew from harmless speculation into something malignant. She fell under the influence of a radical leftist lesbian professor who encouraged my friend’s delusions. Over the years my friend spent more and more time with the LGBT circle on campus and her fascination with masculinity grew. In today’s parlance we would say she was being groomed.
 
At graduation, the furthest she took it was dressing up like a guy with a fake mustache at Halloween and not shaving her legs. The last time I saw her, a year or two after graduation, she announced she was formally transitioning to a man. There was no dissuading her from it; the die had already been cast and she was taking hormones. At the time, she would go as far as non-surgical interventions would take her.
 
I explained the story about my aunt. My friend was acting like transitioning was similar to putting on a costume that she could take off when she was satisfied with playing as a man. I begged and pleaded. “No, you can never come back all the way. It doesn’t work like that.” I might as well have been shouting in the wind. I never saw her again, the last thing I knew about her was that she went through with the transition to live as a man.
 
To this day, I have no idea about her fate. It’s strange to think that this woman was as close to me as a girlfriend is for all intents and purposes gone. Another woman in my life once wrote that “I don't want to believe that the important people in my life come and go with each chapter,” but in reality that is all too often the case.
 
 
Clearly my aunt and friend suffered from some sort of gender dysphoria brought on by psychological problems. A responsible psychiatrist would have explored the origin and source of those feelings to lead these women back to their femininity. While both of these stories started before the major transgender insanity in the last decade, the outcome was the same as if happened last year.
 
In my aunt’s case, she felt like she should be a boy because she was around a lot of them and did male things. Today tomboys face a huge risk of being told that because of their style, behavior, and preferences that they are not actually females and many fall into the transgender trap. How cruel it is to tell a woman that she must actually be a man because she likes male things!
 
For my friend, clearly being molested warped her mind. Child molestation is like a rat pissing inside a server rack. Things short out in unexpected ways and the behavior of the system is radically altered in unpredictable ways.
 
Though my friend had a girlfriend, she was indeed bisexual. Her lesbianism was a way for her altered psyche to “safely” satisfy her need for romantic love and sexuality that avoided her trauma. Her obsession with masculinity—the body hair, penises, mustaches and beards, deep voices—this was a malignant manifestation of her heterosexuality. All that “curiosity” was her wanting a man but some pervert fucked up her mind which was further warped by the LGBT cult.
 
The proper term for this disorder is autoandrophilia (autogynophilia for male-to-female); sexual arousal at being a man. Several theories exist on why this is, one mainly looking at male transvestites with a leading proposed cause being looking at too much porn and imaging oneself as the woman. In my friend’s case, the abuse in all likelihood perverted her sexuality, suppressing her innate heterosexuality. The story is all too common among homosexuals, though it appears homosexuality is a combination of factors that doesn’t necessarily involve sexual abuse.
 
So what my friend was really expressing through her interest wasn’t a desire to become a man—it was a desire to be with a man. Only because of the damage done that desire was looked like a cancerous tumor. Rather than steer her to an honest professional who could help her process the trauma, her curiosity was stoked until it became a desire to be a man. The delusional LGBT cult only furthered a descent into what any other generation would have considered madness.
 
In looking back, there was little I could do to save her. Every time we discussed sexuality, I might have gotten further by jumping off the roof. Despite our ideological differences, I remained a loyal friend until adulthood separated us. Hell, I treated her better than I did my actual girlfriends. This poor, hurt, damaged, and unloved woman was eaten by a hungry, Satanic ideology right before my eyes.
 
The LGBT agenda isn’t about accepting one’s faults or sins and living the best healthy life possible under the circumstances. Rather, homosexuality and it’s associates have become so ingrained in the identity of these people that any challenge to it is a personal attack on their very being. For some, their delusion has become too ingrained to shake loose. For others, the trauma has so altered their psyche that they cannot confront the pain and reality. The based gay person who gets it is far and few in between.
 
I hope my friend is not one of the approximately 40% of trans people who kill themselves. I hope that she and others see that the false choice of being unable to stop or turn around and go back is just lies. The alternatives on either side of the path being death is just an illusion. 

​ 
 
Heat was based on true events and Al Pacino’s character Detective Hanna was based on the technical adviser Detective Chuck Adamson, a Chicago officer who’s experience was the basis of the film. There was a real “relationship” between Adamson and the real criminal, Neil McCauley, portrayed by De Niro’s.
 
The story was way too ambitious and too large for a film, even a three hour film. Today this would have been a miniseries on a streaming service. Frankly, if this film was remade and told in ten or 12 hours instead of three, it would probably be much better.
 
People think it’s great because of the iconic shootout scene, because top-notch actors are in it, and because they are told it’s a great film. Just look at how many people get butthurt in the comments without any additional comments. It’s just another mid-90s action film that doesn’t hold up, the same way that John Ford westerns have that insincere feeling.
 
Al Pacino plays Al Pacino, the same character from all his movies. Yes, his acting is great. That’s why he’s a great actor. However, he plays a shitty detective character with very low realism. He's a New Yorker and New Yorkers don’t make good LA characters. He’s not a realistic LAPD detective. Since I actually know real detectives from the LA area, this bugs the crap out of me. Same thing goes for Harvey Keitel. They aren’t LA cops, they’re just another character playing a part on the screen.
 
But that’s me and my obsession with verisimilitude interfering with my suspension of disbelief, right? I’ll admit most filmgoers and filmmakers can’t tell the difference or care much if they can, but it should damn well matter especially since so effort was placed on correct gunplay. Gun guys love the shootout scene because it’s so realistic, right? So why can’t the actors get the characters right?
 
This movie is mostly about visuals. “The city of Los Angeles itself was a character.” Oh, you mean cinematography. In other words, there were some good camera shots. Okay, but that doesn’t come close to redeeming it as a “great” film. It’s a piece of theater in which good actors do their thing and some cool stuff happens.
 
My main issue is that the screenplay is all over the place. Too many stories are being told in too little time. Yes, the B-E subplots all do add depth to characters and the story but they didn’t have enough screen time to be told well and stole time from the real story. The relationship issues didn’t need to be explored in depth; a little bit of exposition would have been fine. What does a step-daughter’s suicide attempt have to do with a heist movie? I didn’t watch this movie to see a ‘90s neo-noir romance subplot or because of the character’s feelings.
 
The subplots and myriad characters were just confusing. Too many unanswered questions exist with the other characters. What happens to Waingro when he’s off camera? Why did the serial killer subplot have a bit part? Don Breedan’s character and struggle were interesting and could have been a movie in and of itself but instead it’s just a tease.
 
It feels like The Sopranos watered down for an hour spot on Fox instead of HBO. Michael Mann did a much better job in Collateral which had a better dark tone and pacing. Had he kept the story between Hanna and McCauley, it would have been better.
 
Oh, and much of the dialogue sucked ass. Hanna’s wife’s parts were lame. Amy Brenneman’s character was just garbage and a real criminal like McCauley shoulda got bored and walked off as soon as she wouldn’t shut her mouth. I swear, I never felt the ‘90s more than when Amy Brenneman came on screen. Remember how it’s like nearly every brunette in the ‘90s had that same vibe and aesthetic that she had?
 
Anyhow, Heat is overrated and if you like it just because of the cool gun scenes, admit that. 

Sheriff Jim Fryhoff has started his term today. These are the highlights from his first email to the department. In 2013, I predicted he would be the next sheriff. Well, I was off by a term but here he is.
 
The sheriff and the executive staff will be in the jails and field during daily operations to “check in” with deputies, not to “check on” them, as Fryhoff wanted to highlight. Under Sheriff Brooks, I rarely saw anyone above captain in the field, and the only Chief Deputy (now Assistant Sheriff) I saw in the field with any regularity was Geoff Dean (Car 5). Dean later became sheriff.
 
Cowboy hats are now authorized in the following authorized styles: 
Straw (warm weather)
Felt (cold weather)
 
Fryhoff encourages them to be used as conversation starters with the public. No word on campaign hats, which were the officially authorized Class B cover. Ballcaps in “inclement” weather only. Literally a handful of people outside the academy wear them, like four deputies and a couple cadets. Okay, more than that but you very rarely see any Ventura County smokies.
 
He’s also announcing a plan for better recruitment and retention. The new motto is “Be safe and do the right thing.”
 
All in all it’s a positive and welcome message. Jim is a great guy, very friendly and personable. Under the last sheriff, employee morale sagged. The nitpicking of little things like detectives not wearing ties (IIRC) was an example of some of the pettiness. Happy cops make good cops and Ventura County deputies literally are some of the finest peace officers in the world. Making VCSO a crappy place to work hurts hiring and retention which creates a poorer pool of cops for the public and hiring is hard enough.
 
While both he and Ayub are good cops and looked out for the public, I had to support the guy who was more behind the line staff. My only concern is that Fryhoff’s appreciation for community policing doesn’t turn into an attitude that is soft on crime. I don’t think so, but you can trust the tough looking guy to be a hardass if nothing else. All in all, I think the public is in very good hands and is being represented by a guy who has the public good at heart.

So Traffic Bureau deals with school zone traffic (duh). Since kids don't walk to school anymore, traffic congestion near schools is terrible in mornings and afternoons. In the afternoon, as many parents know, it is a competition to get to the school early and find a decent parking place nearest the entrance.

So at this one school, the parents would stack up in the loading zone in the parking lot and spill out on to the street. About 10 cars could fit in the lot and 20-30 more backed up around the corner, waiting for it to be 2 or 3 PM. Teachers and staff were parked on the street. Others parked on corners, in red zones, and in the bus zone.

I got asked to deal with the traffic jams and illegal parking that ticked off the residents. The biggest problem was that the buses couldn't get through traffic to pickup the kids! It wasn't like we were going to be running speed there (the usual school zone complaint). Tickets can only do so much so a creative solution had to be found.

What did I do? I suggested to the principal that she talk to the city and have the bus zone swapped with the loading zone. The buses could park in the lot along the curb where the parents formally queued. We would enforce the bus zone in the parking lot (21113 VC if you're wondering) and the on-street loading zone to keep cars moving. She listened and the city traffic engineer agreed.

In about two weeks, by government standards faster than I could notice, the swap occurred like it had always been that way. Instead of waiting for half-an-hour, parents could just wait until 3:03 or something, pull into the loading zone, let their kid get in, and drive off. It took a few days to get the parents trained, but they learned not to park in the bus zone and to treat the loading zone like a drive-thru. 

The traffic jam cleared up and parents were happier. No parking tickets, no traffic court, no angry principal.