Community: Self-Policing May Support Law Enforcement

Re: “The Vigilante of Carthay Square” (Sept. 25)

Hooray for Joe Connolly. Local police no longer serve as a preventive deterrent to the criminal element but often are a reactive after-thought, i.e., the crime has been perpetrated, you are now a victim, and the police arrive 30 minutes later to take a report. It is quite evident that the Thin Blue Line cannot effectively police our communities. Living here during the L.A. riots has revealed the impotence of law enforcement.

The sense of frustration and feeling of dissatisfaction (with police) in the face of burgeoning crime is high among many community residents. Forget the toothless Neighborhood Watch programs. The Venice bench-breaking incident and Joe Connolly are the beginning manifestations of citizen self-empowerment. Call it vigilantism, if you want.

Those of you (especially smug liberals) imbued with social-political correctitude need only to be a crime victim in order to see the validity of community self-policing.

My only problem now is, how to get Joe Connolly to move into my neighborhood.

DON KOCHI, Los Angeles