California Softens Criminality—Skid Row Officer Deon Responds with “Ladies Night”

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. The Safer Cities Initiative, as implemented in Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row in September of two thousand and six, was enacted as a part of their crime reduction effort. Skid Row is a fifty four block area in downtown L.A. that has become synonymous with homelessness, crime, and drugs. Dion Joseph, as a law enforcement consultant, author, an active senior lead officer in the downtown L.A. Skid Row community.

Let’s take a listen. Okay. In two thousand and five, the year before the initiative and all my efforts and efforts and all other officers there, we had ninety five people die from non-homicidal deaths. We had thirty four people in two thousand and two die from homicides. So three years into the efforts, we look at two thousand and nine and we had sixty three people die in Skid Row, which is a think about thirty three percent reduction, and we only had five found dead in the streets. You know why? Because we were able to enforce the ten laws from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., because if we could see somebody getting raped, we can save them. If we could see somebody overdosing, we can save them. The Fire Department can save them. And it worked. It really worked. And we, of course, we allowed them to sleep after nine o’clock because there wasn’t enough shelter and it was just a really beautiful time in homicides. We looked at just the following year of two thousand and seven, I believe, and I think in the whole division six people were murdered. Guess how many people were murdered in Skid Row? Three. I always tell people, look: I know what we do is not sexy. You want sexy? Call the Fire Department. They’re handsome guys. They look at our calendars. I love the Fire Department. They’re hardworking guys. Station Nine, shot out! Really great guys. But hey, they do to feel good stuff. You know. Our job is to respond to the true systemic failures of our government failing to deal with poverty, homelessness, crime in a common-sense way on a consistent basis. That’s our and the mental health of failure. So, anyway, everything was going fine, and everything’s going fantastic, until about twenty eleven, and that was the beginning of the end for crime control in the state of California. First, we had the governor come up with ABY one oh nine, which basically took individuals who were in prison off the backs of the states and put it on the already overburdened probation department. So they were so backed up that instead of supervising these individuals directly, they gave them ankle bracelets and told them to check in at a kiosk. So, what happens? These guys cut their ankle bracests south, and now they’re running around committee crime. Then comes twenty fourteen, Prop. Forty seven. They turned serious crimes into non-serious crimes. That made it difficult for us to keep criminals like burdery suspects, burdery from the vehicle suspects, theft suspects, to send them back and hold them account, but made it very difficult for us to do it. And then it comes twenty and sixteen. I couldn’t believe that the voters voted for it, seeing thirteen years of crime reduction dissipate Prop. Fifty seven, which turned violent felonies into non-violent felonies, and I couldn’t believe it. I mean, if someone took your love one, a female love, onto a bar and put GHB in their drink and knocked them unconscious and took them to a room and raped them. The average person, if you ask them, they would tell you, that’s a violent crime. It’s not a vinent crime anymore. If someone walked through my house right now and started firing at AK forty seven, but they missed me, by the grace of God, you and I believe that’s a vinent crime. The average sane, rational person thinks that’s a violent crime. Under the new law, it’s non-violent. It’s still a felony, but non violet. And what it did was it created a lever to release hundreds, tens of thousands of individuals into the street. And where did most of them come to? Skid Row? So now I was watching the justice system fail again. Imagine being in what’s tall of recovery zone called Skid Row, where there’s one hundred and eight programs designed to help people with the narrative issues, but there’s a drug dealer standing right outside the door or inside the door. In some of these low-income supportive housing units, they’re worse than being on the street. And the reason why that is is a lot of the people who got housed in Skid Row still old drug debts to the local loan shark, and the loan shark finds out that the order drug dealer, and the loan shark and drug dealer finds out they’re still in there and says, “Hey, guess what, you got to sell this drugs for me in this hotel.” Help me turn this place out, or if you won’t do it, you have to get out of your own room and let me move in. So now you’ve got somebody who’s house who’s now back on the street. Because the criminal element is able to run wild and rampant once again. Women are being victimized at a high rate that tents are up. We can’t take him down. The most tragic thing I ever saw was I was parked and these tents were up, and it was about twelve noon, and I didn’t hear anything. Everything was quiet. I went to the station, came to work the next day, and I saw a report at twelve noon at fifth in San Pedro, where I was park there was a woman who was savagely raped by three males. I was parked there. But even though that’s a failure, I look back on the successes, and the one thing they can’t take away from me is the relationship that I built with the people on top of housing them. During the period where we had it safe, I created several programs off the cuffs. One was called a Ladies’ Night, and Ladies’ Night was birth in my heart. In nineteen ninety nine, I was an undercover investigator in Skid Row and, talk about seeing the real underbelly of Skid Row. I couldn’t believe it. A, I couldn’t believe they didn’t recognize me, as big as my arms were at the time. But B, you know, it was just seeing drug program operate, raiders participating in the drug drug trade and allowing drug dealers into the facility and handing out drug. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It really broke my heart when I saw these people, I felt, had no hope. Uh, so, working undercover, I remember I had to go arrest sex workers. There were two sex workers I was looking for, and I could never get them. I could never put on the right costume, right? So, finally, I thought I had the right one. I was dressed as a preacher. I have a little collar on, you know. I pull up next her and say, “Hey, girl, I’m gonna lay hands on you,” right? Lips split open, eyes swollen shut, skirt torn, and she’s walking, looking for another customer. And my heart just broke, and I broke my cover. I said, “Look, it’s me. I’m trying to get you, but I’m not gonna arrest you. Please tell me who did this to you.”

And you’re listening to Dion Joseph sharing with you his story of his time spent un Skid Row. And for a time, boy, that death rate on Skid Row went down, and then came rules and rags and policies that made it just more difficult for someone like Dion and cops across this country, they get harder for them to do their jobs and keep us safe, including the most vulnerable among us. When we come back, more of Dion Joseph’s story here on Our American Stories. Here at Our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith, and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country that need to be told. But we can’t do it without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they’re not free to make. If you love our stories in America like we do, please go to OurAmericanStories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Help us keep the great American stories coming. That’s OurAmericanStories.com. And we continue with Our American Stories in Dion Joseph’s story. He’s a law enforcement consultant, author, an active senior lead officer in the downtown Los Angeles Skid Road community. Let’s continue with Dion.

There were two sex workers I was looking for, and I could never get them. I could never put on the right costume, right? So, finally, I thought I had the right one. I was dressed as a preacher. I have a little collar on, you know. I pulled up next her and say, “Hey, Giryl, I’m gonna lay hands on you,” right? Lips split open, eyes swollen shut, skirt torn. My heart just broke, and I broke my cover. I said, “Look, it’s me. I’m trying to get you, but I’m not gonna arrest you. Please tell me who did this to you.” She said, “I got to live here. You either arrest me or let me go.” And I had to let her go, and the same guy that violated her violated several other women in the skid Royal. I couldn’t do anything about it, bign I didn’t have the resources. But in two thousand and eight we were having the same problems. The ladies were telling me about it in Skid Row. They felt I was the only officer they could talk to. So I said, “You know what? Let me talk to you about your rights.” Because what they were hearing from pimps, from activists, from their johns, is, “You go to the police, the police are going to arrest you because you’re a drug add. I’ll tell the police you were a drug addict, and they’re going to arrest you, too.” Or, “I know you have a warrant, so I’ll tell you if you have a warrant, the police are going to arrest you.” None of these things were true. So I established some really great relationships with the SRO, and they allowed me to use one of their community centers and the hardest Skid Row called the James Jim Wood Center, and I created Ladies’ Night, and I rolled out the red carpet for these lady, and I think I set out about fifty cheers, but I only expected about fifteen ladies because usually people on Skid Row don’t show up for things. But a grace of God, about one hundred and seventy five homeless women came to the first Ladies’ Night, and I treated them just as if they lived in West L.A., hey. I had a D.A. there, I had a city councilwoman there. I had all these people there that normally they wouldn’t expect to come talk to them. But the whole thing was, I don’t care if you’re in a pipe, on parole, a prostitute, or off swinging from a pole or undocumented. If somebody hurt you, it is my job to serve you. And my brother and I also taught them some self-defense as well, and not enough to kick my own butt, but just enough to add seconds to their life should they get assaulted in the street. And you should have seen the impact it had. I had made connections for life with those ladies, sharing their stories of abuse. And I just sat there and listened all night long to these ladies. They felt listen to. They felt heart. Now, here was the wonderful gift from that. Two years later, we had a serial, a taxi cap Cereal rapist driving through Skid Row, picking up women and just doing things I won’t even mention on this program to these women. And three of the women that he sexually assaulted went to Ladies’ Night, my first Ladies’ Night. Guess who they can? The police, and we put that guy away for the rest of his life. But the funny story, side note, behind that was when they were brought into court to testify, they wouldn’t get on the stand, and they kept asking them, “Why you guys won’t testify?” “We’re not going to get on the stand unless the Angel shows up.” So I’m at home, sitting in my Superman draws, drinking on the S Strawberry smoothie, trying to endraw my day off, and I get a call from the D.A.’s office. “Joseph, They’re not going to get on the stand if you don’t come.” So I’m like, “But I’m in my Superman draws.” “I’m trying to relax.” I’m watching Marie. “I want to know who the baby daddy is.” And I said, “You know what? This is too important.” So I suited up, went down there, and when I walked into the waiting room, all three of the victims collapsed into my arms, and they went and testified and put that man away for the rest of his life. Hopefully. That was one incredible moment that no one could take away from me, and to this day I still have a great connection with the women of skied Row. During that same time I work with the missions, the shelters, I had to learn a hard lesson about once again, once again, about judgments and stereotypes. I always thought the missions were scams. I thought that they were there to basically corral the homeless, feed them soup kitchens, and then drive off a Mercedes bends and not change the thing. I always felt the missions were a problem. They were the problem. They were the main source of the problem. As low as the homeless were going there, you know, there was always going to be problems. And I’ll never forget when I first became a senior lead officer, my captain says to me, “Officer Joseph, you’re doing great out there. You’re making a lot of arrest, but that’s not what I hired you to do. You have to build relationships with the community.” And I was like, “What do you mean?” “I want you to go meet with the director of the Union Rescue Mission. His name is Andy Bales.” And I was like, “Oh God, the mission.” So I went. I showed up. I saw him. I shook his hand and said, “Hey, I’m Officer Joseph. Captain told me to meet you. Here’s my business card, and nice talking to you.” And as I’m walking away, he says, “Hey, your captain said I had you for my thirty minutes.” Oh man, I got crying to fight and everything. So he says, “Come walk with me.” So we’re walking through the first level, and I’ve been in there many times making arrest, and I’m seeing people arrested before. “Hey, that guy is smoking crack right there.” Oh arrested that he got a warm for his arrest right there. I’m like, “I’m judging, right?” But he must have sensed it because he was taking me to the second, third, and fourth floor. Every floor got better, and by the time I got to the fifth floor, I saw individuals who I arrested. I arrested them. And when I arrested them a year or two years ago, I said to myself, not because I was mean-spirited. This person’s going to die just based on the trajectory of life that they were on, and these people were cleaning, sober, and running their program. I’ll never forget. One lady approached me and says, “You’re a RoboCop. I remember you!” And I’m like, “I don’t remember you, beautiful lady.” And she goes, “Well, you probably don’t remember me. Back then, I had no teeth. Remember I told you I wanted your family to catch AIDS and die?”

Oh, oh, you.

“I forgave you for that a long time ago, right?” And she says, “Officer Joseph, I’m doing well in here. I’m doing good. I hope you’re proud of me.” I said, “Baby, I am.” She says, “But let me tell you the truth. If you guys don’t deal with these dope dealers and long stars out here, I don’t know how long we’re going to last in here.” That gave me pause. It made me realize that not only did they need the shelters and the programs, they also needed the police. And I made a whole shift, a mindset shift, and I became a guardian for the drug programs for the shelters, and I did everything I could to make sure I kept drug dealers and gang members. And when I noticed that, while I was doing it, people were graduating from drug programs at a higher rate. The missions were reporting less guns, less drugs. Oh. They let me come in there and watch videos and all the time inspire on drug dealers. It was just a wonderful thing that God was just blessing me. But one of those beautiful things they did was they allowed me to engage in a program called the Jest Like You Program. I created this program after being invited to the mission to talked to the kids. And I went there, and the mistake I made was I patronized the kids. I walked in there and I did the old song and dance. “Hey, I’m a police officer, I’m your friend.” “Hey, Little Billy, what do you want to be when you grow up?” “A football player?” “Hey, Johnny, what do you want to be when you grow up? A fireman?” No. I did the old song and dance, right? The old soft shoot. And then there was a twelve-year-old girl, and she was looking eastbound down at the street, and I was kind of insulted. The party was over here, right? I said, “Hey, lady, the party’s over here.” “A young lady, what do you want to be when you grow up?” And she looked at me, this beautiful chocolate, Black girl, and she says, “I’m probably going to be like these people having on sex on the sidewalk if you don’t get me and my family out of here,” shut me down. I got emotional. I couldn’t continue. I walked out and let my partners handle the rest. I went to the station. I’m sitting at my desk, praying to God, and said, “What can I do? What can I do? Who can I put in these front of these kids who were just like them?” D nam ann name. The idea popped on my head, that’s just like your program was born in. I found individuals who could be mentors to these kids who they didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth. They were in foster care, they were homeless, they were abused, and somehow, some way they turned their life around. I brought a judge, I brought a lawyer. I brought a former actor. I brought a guy who I found in a trash band covered in scabies, okay, and I put a poem in his jailhouse bag, and he read the poem and somehow it inspired him to change his life, and he went on to manage hotels in the area. I couldn’t believe it. It’s amazing, you know. That’s why I can’t stop, you know. It’s just like I’m always looking for the miracle.

And a terrific job on the editing, producing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hangler and a special thanks to Dion Joseph. He’s a law enforcement consultant, author, an active senior lead officer in the downtown Los Angeles area of the notorious Skid Road community and doing what he can to make life better f