Copper Thieves Plunge LA Into Darkness While Karen Bass Pushes Solar Scheme And Tax Hikes Instead Of Cops

According to RedState, the citys response has been emblematic of Californias broader progressive mismanagement: rather than demanding tougher law enforcement and stiffer penalties for criminals, Bass has championed solar streetlights and a staggering 120 percent hike in property owners streetlighting assessments. Does she advocate for beefing up law enforcement and criminal penalties? No, instead shes pushed for solar lighting and a 120 percent increase in property owners streetlighting assessment. Get real. It is precisely this kind of soft-on-crime, high-tax approach that has propelled California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and Los Angeles mayoral contender Spencer Pratt to the top tier of their respective races, a political realignment on the Left Coast that has not been seen in decades.

Pratt has made Basss failures a central theme of his campaign, arguing that the citys leadership has surrendered the streets to criminals. Karen Bass turned Los Angeles into a lawless mess. And her idea to address the copper wire theft isnt to arrest the thieves, its installing solar lights so the streets of LA arent dark for the World Cup. His critique underscores a growing frustration among residents who see basic public safety and infrastructure maintenance as non-negotiable responsibilities of government, not optional extras to be sacrificed on the altar of progressive experimentation.

May 31, 2026

As copper theft escalates, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has floated a strikingly different solution: arm its own personnel. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has a radical solution, though: give us guns. The utility has formally asked the City Council for authority to create an armed police force dedicated to protecting the citys electrical infrastructure, noting that both the Port of Los Angeles and the citys airports already operate their own police agencies.

The LADWPs request reflects a vacuum created by years of political neglect and anti-police rhetoric. The Los Angeles agency in charge of the citys electricity wants to create its own armed police force to combat the epidemic of thieves stealing valuable copper wire from streetlights. In a letter to city leaders, the department argued that it should be granted similar powers to other specialized law enforcement units, a move that would require voter approval and action by the state legislature.

Pratt, who has taken to calling the mayor Karen Basura, has blasted Bass for effectively conceding the field to criminals. Karen Basura [Pratts nickname for the ineffective mayor] has given up on going after copper thieves, and is installing solar powered lights. Thats fine. But that doesnt fix the problem. HP and AT&T had $87M in copper wire theft losses in ONE year, in South LA, alone. We need the heavy metals task force to crack down, immediately. His call for a heavy metals task force highlights a conservative preference for targeted enforcement and deterrence over costly, feel-good infrastructure schemes that do little to address the underlying crime.

At present, LADWP does maintain a security staff, but those officers are unarmed and lack arrest powers, forcing them to rely on an already overstretched Los Angeles Police Department. The LADWP already has security officers, but they are unarmed and unable to make arrests, leaving them at the mercy of the Los Angeles Police Department, which is already woefully understaffed and famously slow to respond to calls. After decades of one-party Democratic rule, the LAPD is operating with its lowest number of sworn officers in 25 years, a predictable outcome of anti-police politics and budgetary neglect.

Bass, however, continues to align herself with the same public-sector unions and progressive interest groups that have presided over the citys decline. Yet Bass thinks you should vote for more of the same. We know who shes beholden to, and it's not the residents of Tinseltown. Its the unions. The mayor herself made that allegiance explicit, boasting, Energized to be out today with SEIU 721 members backing our campaign. LAs workers built this city, Ill never stop fighting for them.

Creating a new LADWP police force would not be cheap, and taxpayers would almost certainly be asked to foot the bill. The proposed department would need approval from the voters and the state legislature, and it would cost millions. While I like the concept, I want to know why city leaders shot this entrepreneurs idea down. That alternative came from a private innovator offering a far more economical, market-based fix.

??LOS ANGELES REJECTS CHEAP DEVICE TO CURB STREET LIGHT COPPER THEFT Copper wire theft has been knocking out streetlights across Los Angeles and leaving neighborhoods in the dark. Entrepreneur Mark James of End Metal Theft proposed a $300 locking cover system, but city officials opted to focus on solar streetlights costing up to $6,000 each. As critics noted, Critics say the decision raises costs while theft continues to damage infrastructure and drain millions in repair spending. The contrast between a $300 protective device and $6,000 solar units encapsulates the progressive instinct to spend more taxpayer money rather than embrace practical, private-sector solutions.

The stakes of this policy debate will be tested at the ballot box as the mayoral and gubernatorial primaries conclude on Tuesday. The mayoral and gubernatorial primaries end on Tuesday, and well see if the California electorate keeps on voting for more failure, or if people are finally waking up to the reality that managed Democratic decline is no fun. In the meantime, your friendly local power agency official may just end up packing heat. Voters now face a stark choice between continuing a trajectory of high crime, high costs, and ideological governance, or turning toward candidates promising law and order, fiscal sanity, and a renewed respect for the basic responsibilities of government.