Voigts Broken Promises - Part 4. Crime

CRIME

I’m ending my discussion of Voigts' broken promises with Crime because there is really nothing more important for the people of any city than controlling crime. All politicians will oppose crime, so what’s important is what they do, not what they say.

Before we start, let's review what we've found so far -

• He promised to complete the Portola Extension, but didn't
• He promised to synchronize traffic signals but didn't, and in fact, extended the time to complete.
• He promised to relieve traffic but voted instead to allow 40,000 more vehicle trips per day into the City, and also he rejected the idea of a Traffioc Commission.
• He promised to create more jobs but in fact Lake Forest has lost jobs and our projected sales tax revenue is less than half of our neighboprs.
• He promised conservative policies and then voted the biggest increase in fees in the City's history, voted himself an expensive iPad, and voted to spend $14K a year so that he didn't have to file forms manually.
• He promised to increase citizen participation then voted against the Community Foundation and the Traffic Commission.
• He promised transparency then voted against the Sunshine Ordinance

What He Promised

“I’ll increase law enforcement…”

What He Did

Voigts did nothing to increase law enforcement per se, although we are spending much more now than we did when Voigts entered office 3 years ago. In 2010 we paid $12,818,213 for Police services, which was 36% of our total spending. In 2014 the figure is $13,327,900 which is 38% of our total. So we are paying more on an absolute basis and on a percentage basis, and not getting any more services.

Voigts was verbally supportive of our Neighborhood Watch program. He said Neighborhood Watch was vital to crime prevention and enforcement. That's true. What he didn't say is that for more than a year the Neighborhood Watch position in the Police Department has been vacant. As a result, according to figures supplied by the Sheriff's Department, Neighborhood Watch meetings have decreased from an average of 20 per year before Voigts came into office, to less than 10 since he's been in office, and to nearly 0 lately.

What He Promised

“I’ll…keep our community safe.”

What He Did

Since Voigts took office, Lake Forest has become the “Murder Capital of South Orange County.” There have been more murders in Lake Forest in the past 3 years than all other cities managed by the OC Sheriff’s Dept. in South Orange County combined. Let’s say that again. There were more murders in Lake Forest alone in the 3 years since Voigts took office than in Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, RSM,and Laguna Woods combined.

When crime in Lake Forest in 2013 is compared to previous years we have more murders, forcible rapes, crimes against children, narcotics and weapons violations, etc. It’s a serious problem. We are much less safe now than when Voigts entered office.

Even worse, Voigts voted to allow Musick Jail to accept more serious felons and to expand with a $100,000,000 addition that will house “maximum security” prisoners. He voted in that way even though he made verbal campaign promises to fight against the Musick Jail expansion. Then he lied to the public when he claimed that the “OC Alert” system would notify Lake Forest residents when inmates escaped.

Perhaps the worst thing he’s done, and possibly one of the reasons why we are less safe, is Voigts’ repeated claim that “…Lake Forest was ranked the 12th safest city in the United States.” This is nonsense, and I covered this issue in my previous article about his lies. Suffice it to say that by lying about how safe we are, Voigts and the others who joined him in this lie (e.g., McCullough) may have given people a false sense of security, and this false sense of security may lie at the heart of why serious crimes have increased because if you really are living in “the 12th safest city in the United States”, you can leave your doors and windows open, walk around the streets unaccompanied at night, etc. But we are not the 12th safest city in the U.S. On a per capita basis we have more serious crime than almost any city around us. We should be cautioning people about how to avoid being victims, not lying to them about how safe they are.

What He Promised

“…keep gangs from getting a foothold in Lake Forest.”

What He Did

Voigts has done nothing to stop gangs from gaining ground in Lake Forest. However, despite doing nothing affirmative to stop gangs from gaining ground, gangs have not been a major problem in the City, either before Voigts came into office or since he’s been in office.

SUMMARY

We’ve been looking at Voigt’s promises with regard to crime and his achievements. He promised to increase law enforcement, keep us safe, and keep gangs from getting a foothold in the City. Since Voigts took office we are significantly less safe and we are spending substantially more money on police services. Moreover, by allowing Musick Jail to expand and to accept more dangerous felons, and by failing to do anything about warning people when inmates escape, Voigts has endangered us even further. Even worse, he’s lied to us about how safe we are.

Next time we'll summarize the entire series.