[This is the sixth in  a series of articles  on the dark money behind the urban decay in the United States.]

California was once a place where people dreamed of moving and raising children — a state where you could ski in the mountains in the morning and watch the sunset over the ocean later in the evening. Today, however, people are leaving California in droves, with more than 500,000 people leaving the state over the past two years.

Crime is a major contributing factor to this exodus. Between July 2021 and July 2022, California “lost roughly 211,000 people. … half of those — 113,048 — were from Los Angeles County alone,” according to the New York Post. This fact is unsurprising given that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon is one of the nation’s most liberal prosecutors.

Gascon was elected as the Los Angeles DA in 2020 after receiving more than $4.5 million in campaign contributions from the CA Justice and Public Safety PAC, funded by leftist billionaire George Soros.

Upon being sworn in, Gascon implemented several policies that reduced the punishment for criminals, such as cashless bail and a “do not prosecute” order for 13 misdemeanor offenses, including drug possession, loitering to commit prostitution, and resisting arrest. He also eliminated special enhancements to certain crimes and enacted a moratorium against seeking the death penalty.

The results of these policies were predictable but devastating nonetheless, especially when one considers the victims. Crime has risen every year Gascon has been in office, with crime in 2022 increasing more than 11% over 2021’s already high rates.

Hate crimes are up as well. Through Nov. 21, 2022, the most recently available data, the Los Angeles Police Department recorded 620 hate crimes, the most of any full year since at least 2010. Throughout 2021, there were 596 hate crimes reported, according to a report. Black residents have suffered the greatest increase in hate crimes compared with any other group, increasing 34% over 2021 numbers.

While crime surges, arrests were down by 10% in 2021. Gascon even instructed his prosecutors not to bring charges against people who commit a crime while in the country illegally .

The former Democratic sheriff of Los Angeles, Alex Villanueva , said his office presented 13,238 cases that the district attorney’s office rejected. “These are people that did bad things that left a victim, have evidence presented, and (the LA district attorney’s office) said, ‘Don’t bother,’” Villanueva said.

Given Gascon’s carefree attitude toward prosecuting crime, it is no wonder that law enforcement has grown frustrated. In fact, between June 2020 and June 2021, 631 officers from all ranks left the LAPD. “They are worn out, they’re frustrated, they're tired, and they’re looking for options outside the profession,” said LAPD Chief Michel Moore.

The rank and file of Los Angeles County’s law enforcement community are disgusted with Gascon and his office’s unwillingness to prosecute crime. But there is one segment of Los Angeles’s population that wholeheartedly supports Gascon: criminals.

Luis Angel Hernandez, who is currently serving time for shooting and killing a marijuana delivery person in 2018, has praised Gascon. Hernandez faced sentencing enhancement for being in a gang, using a firearm, and committing murder during an armed robbery — enhancements that would have significantly increased his sentence. Those enhancements, however, were dropped by Gascon’s office.

Hernandez initially “faced life in prison without parole, which has also been barred by Gascon’s directives to prosecutors, and is now eligible for youthful offender prole — which would limit his time in prison to just 25 years,” according to a report. Hernandez has even bragged that he will have Gascon’s name tattooed on his face as a thank you to the woke DA.

The people of Los Angeles have tried to recall Gascon twice and have failed. A third attempt is in order.

Jim Nelles is a supply chain consultant based in Chicago. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.