California Lawmakers Safety, ‘Hugging Robbers’ & a Drop in Metro Crime

ICYMI: Hour Two of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Thoughts on California Lawmakers paying closer attention to Assembly Bill 2041, which “allows candidates and elected officials to use more campaign funds for personal security for themselves, family members and staff” in light of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump…PLUS – The OC Sheriff’s Department has issued a warning for ‘hugging robbers’ in SoCal AND there’s some good news regarding LA Metro coming out of North Hollywood - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
The RNC is detailing what's happening onthe national scene, and how I would
guess, is the first look intohow our politics are shaping up in the
wake of the atipted assassination of formerPresident Donald Trump. But there are ripples,

(00:23):
there are reverberations that we're feeling,even here in California, and because
of what happens Saturday, I thinkit is spurred on this effort right here
in California to beef up California lawmakers'safety. And you're looking at elected officials
all around the state as far aswhether they have adequate security. The Secretary

(00:47):
of the State and Chief Administrative Officerof Assembly said that there has been heightened
concern about political violence in recent years, and there is a new bill which
is underway to protect California lawmakers andcandidate from rampant threats. The measure is
Assembly built AB two zero four toone, which would allow candidates and elected

(01:07):
officials to use more campaign funds forpersonal security for themselves, family members,
and staff. That's the bill,But let me interject my thoughts on where
we are more generally here in thestate of California. I don't know if
it's a function of having more security, and hear me out on this.

(01:30):
If we think about the overall environment, there is an aggressiveness in the way
that we address elected leaders, inthe way that we address politicians that I
don't think is going to be addressedjust by more security. Here's what I

(01:52):
mean. You may remember, forLa County DA Jackie Lacy, how protesters
went to our house and protest itoutside of her house early in the morning
on multiple days. And yes itresulted in an unfortunate gun display incident by
her husband. But the point isthe way we interact with elected officials and

(02:14):
politicians is very different today. There'sa general lack of respect and more of
a disdain for elected officials. Youcould look at it online as far as
how we talk to one another orhow we even talk to elected officials online,
be it a Facebook page or beit a Twitter handle, or how

(02:36):
we just go at each other inour day to day conversations. It's much
more aggressive. And I don't knowif just having more security or setting aside
for more money for more security reallygets to the root cause of it all,
something I think has to change inUS. There has to be an
increase in the quotient of general respectfor ourselves, for our fellow citizens,

(03:02):
and also for our elected officials.And if you look at the dialogue,
how we refer to the governor,how we refer to La County DA,
how we refer to La City Councilor members of Congress, it's usually in
a way which is beneath the modicumdignity of respect, and we try to

(03:23):
justify it with anything we want.We try to say that, well,
because they've done this, or becausethey don't do that, they don't deserve
my respect. But that lack ofrespect usually plays itself out in all sorts
of unfortunate ways, sometimes violent,sometimes in terms of vandalism, and sometimes

(03:45):
in ways that we don't even wantto talk about. But I think we
have to handle both. You cantalk about expanding security, but if we're
not talking about how we have changedas people, then I don't think the
added security is going to make muchdifference. And here's what I mean.
We can use history as a guideas far as political violence. California has

(04:06):
had its fair share. You know, back in nineteen seventy five, a
member of the Manson family cult attemptedto shoot President Gerald Ford near the state
Capitol in Sacramento while Ford was enroute to meet then Governor Jerry Brown.
At nineteen sixty eight, obviously,Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot at

(04:27):
the Ambassador Hotel here in LA whilerunning for the Democratic presidential nomination, and
also on Sunday, this is theday after the attempted assassination. Newsom said
he deployed sixty one highway patrol andpolice officers to assist local, state,
and federal law enforcement during the RNCthat we were listening to just this past

(04:48):
hour. So there are components whichinclude law enforcement. But I also believe
that there are components which have todo with who we are as people.
Are general lack of respect for oneanother, our general disdain for not just
public officials. But and I knowMark Ronner you would have strong feelings about

(05:08):
this, because I have strong feelingsabout this, the lack of respect for
the media and how that can alsotranslate into violence. We can talk about
the CNN bomber, Cesarsyak and howall of these things are connected. Because
we feel a certain way we feelthat whatever we say or are actions subsequent

(05:30):
to that are somehow justified. Well, I was going to keep my thoughts
to myself on that. I'm justsaying just from a person who works in
the media and how members of newsmedia, and I'll say reporters are vilified,
treated much more aggressively accosted. Onoccasion, there was a video that

(05:51):
reporter Chris Adler had on her Instagramwhere she was trying to interview people who
are at the Trump rally, andI think it was Huntington Beach, and
she said that she felt unsafe ofhow people were addressing her and coming at
her as if she was some sortof enemy of the people as it were.

(06:13):
Yeah, when you're against the freepress, think about what that means
you're actually for it's unacceptable. Well, my concern is invariably it will lead
to violence. And we're not talkingabout that elephant in the room. We
can obviously look at and point,oh, my goodness, someone took a
shot at the former president and Republicannominee for president, and we say,

(06:35):
oh my gosh, we can't havethat type of violence. But we never
talk about the precipitating events or themission creep, where we get to that
level of violence where we think it'sokay to a cost other people, where
we think it's okay to confront peoplein a way that is aggressive and just
short of violence, and that's howit spills over into violence. We have

(06:59):
been an eyelid leave, you know, just based on you and I talk
all the time about being students ofhistory and an unparalleled time in the modern
era of incitement to violence, ofhate speech and things that I really didn't
think I would see again in myadult life, things that I saw when
I was a child that I thoughtwere extinguished from public life, or that
would end a person's career for sayingthings like that out loud. I think

(07:23):
we're kind of all the way throughthe looking glass right now. No,
we are, and we're at apoint where people think, because I believe
this strongly or I you know,I have conviction in my beliefs that somehow
I deserve a platform, I deservea forum, and you have to sit
there and take it, regardless ofhow I want to present it to you.
The whole idea of civility and respectfor one another is completely gone,

(07:46):
and I think we're doing ourselves adisservice when we're not acknowledging the obvious.
We finally agree on so let's markthis day down. It's like twice in
the month of July. Maybe weshould quit while we're ahead and drive off
a cliff like Thelma and Louise rightnow, all right, then let's go
to a commercial break, and thenon the other side, let's talk to

(08:07):
you about these hugging robbers which arepopping up in various places around southern California.
And what you need to know tobetter protect yourself is Later with mo
Kelly. We're live everywhere on theiHeartRadio app. You're listening to Later with
mo Kelly on demand from KFI AM. Six forty two people have been arrested

(08:28):
in jail in connection with an attemptedrobbery in Orange County earlier this month,
but authorities are warning Southern Californians likeyou and me, be vigilant and don't
let approaching strangers who appear to wantto hug get one and let me stop
right there a complete stranger coming forward, arms spread wide, asking for a

(08:56):
hug. No. I don't knowabout other people. I can only speak
for me, and it may varyfrom person to person. I don't like
strangers approaching me. We talk aboutwhen I go to a gas station.
I don't want you to come uptrying to sell me. Cookies, don't
sell candy, bars, don't sellyou know, tube socks, don't sell

(09:18):
me anything. Don't try to engageme in conversation. Why because I know
that that's when a crime usually happens. When you're distracted, especially at a
gas station where you may you know, they know you're there to spend money,
and you're there outside of your car, you can't easily get away.
I don't like people approaching me ata gas station, but by and large,

(09:41):
I don't like just random people onthe street approaching me when I know
that I don't know that person andthat person doesn't know me. That's different
if someone should happen to recognize me, and it happens on occasion from time
to time where they say, hey, aren't you mo Kelly. Yeah,
I'm not talking about that. I'mtalking about a a random random having no

(10:03):
explicit reason to engage you in conversation. They have not made themselves known as
far as why they are walking towardsyou. That stuff I don't like at
all when I see this story aboutthese hugging robberies. Based on the description
provided by the victim, it waslater determined that these same suspects were possibly

(10:26):
involved in similar incidents in Orange Countyand surrounding counties. It went a little
something like this. A man toldauthorities that a male driver parked his vehicle
in front of his driveway. That'sissue number one, while a female passenger
exited the suspect car. So youhave a random car parking in front of

(10:48):
your house, and then a randomperson, as I assume on the passenger
side, and approached this man withhis arms out for a hug. You're
not getting that close to me,because what are you doing in front of
my house? Why are you walkingup to me? And why are you

(11:09):
asking for a hug? I don'tknow. All my bells and whistles will
be going off in my head.And then you want to ask for a
hug, and then they, Iguess, they hold them in that hug
and then they forcibly rob them ofany jury or valuables that they have.
You know, you're not gonna getthat close to me. I can't allow
it. This is mind blowing.I actually don't understand how this actually happens.

(11:33):
How someone parks someone else gets outof the car and they walk up
arms of kimball, like give mea hug. No back when they first
started off with these social media prankswhere strangers walk up to and I don't
know, throw a pie in yourface, or dump a water a bucket
of water on you, or evena knockout game. I don't eat all

(11:54):
of that towards That alone always hadme on edge, just strangers walking up
on me, period. But Iknow people that I grew up with that
used to get an attractive young ladyto distract some young man and rob them
of their wares, either to gettheir car keys and jack their cars,

(12:16):
security guards at supermarkets to have themjust all some half naked girls staring at
them, come up from behind.Bop, Now you got yourself a drive
by weapon. This is the Ijust know this just from being a kid
and knowing what people used to do. Don't walk up on me, especially
asking for a hug. Maybe that'sjust because we've lived in a city environment

(12:37):
and know what usually goes on orwhat would be criminals would try to do.
And it's always connected to some formof distraction. Always talk about the
gas station, you're distracted, thishugging robbery, you're you're distracted. That's
always a part of it. Andmaybe they're more elaborate where they have more

(12:58):
people involved. Even when they hadthe pull up over, they tap your
car and have you pulled up,decide the freeway so they can rob you
and take your car, what haveyou. It's about distraction or a misdirection.
If the moment you get a person, a car stops, stops in
front of my house that I don'tknow, my antennae go up. A
person that I don't know gets outof the car and walks towards me.

(13:22):
I assume something is up. Yeah, and maybe I don't have any real
reason to, but my first,my first inclination is to assume the worst
about you. I just do.I just do because I can't make the
mistake of, you know, lettingmy guard down and something happening to me
or my family or form walking mydogs or something like that. Yeah.

(13:43):
I don't know if that comes fromstudying martial arts and from first and foremost
knowing your surroundings, knowing what's happening, trying to keep your head on the
swiveling eyes in the back of thehead, or if it is just growing
up, as you said, ina city like environment where you are adjacent

(14:07):
to people who commit crimes and youknow how people are taking advantage of or
hell, even if it's just watchingtelevision. I don't know why you would
think that someone walking up on youtrying to ask for a hug that you
don't know is a good idea.I don't care how gorgeous. Let's say
it's a honeypot, as we calledit. Let's say you know how gorgeou.
I don't care how gorgeous that womanmay be. It's like, what

(14:28):
business do you have with me?And part of it is martial arts,
because we're always taught. You know, the fight begins when they are within
arms reach where they can actually harmyou, and someone holding out their arms
to hug you. As far asI'm concerning, the fight has begun because
you're trying to get in my space. Not that I'm necessarily afraid of the

(14:48):
person's coming to hug me, butI know that there is something afoot.
There's something else going on. Maybeit's something like it's mine or they want
to break down my guard so theycan sell me something maybe. And I've
had this before, where you'll havesomeone to approach you and say, hey,
can I give you a hug,and then they'll want to start proselytizing
and tell you about the Lord.I've had similar things like that, but

(15:11):
my rules are always the same.I don't want you in my personal space,
especially if you haven't identified yourself andyou haven't made plane your business with
me. The instance, you're walkingup on me, I am extending my
arm in a defensive hands out positionso that you know, automatically, I'm
not comfortable, not even I'm notaggressing towards you, but I'm putting my

(15:35):
hands up in both hands in aposition where I know I can easily close
fists and grat but I'm automatically sayingthis position says hold on, don't walk
up on me, introduce yourself,say something, you know what. I
think this is a function because we'reall more conscious of crime. Crime is
more brazen, crime is happening inthe suburbs. You know, this probably

(15:58):
wouldn't work in the inner city becauseit's a different It's people carry themselves differently.
You would not try to walk upand hug people in the inner city.
You just wouldn't. You just wouldn't, And so maybe they can catch
some people like for example, weused to say growing up, don't let
anyone catch you slipping. If youdon't know what that means, then you
probably are gonna be caught slipping,just being caught unaware, not paying attention

(16:21):
to your surroundings. And if thereis a takeaway from this, it's called
the hugging robbers today. But thesedistraction screen schemes are not new, and
the general rule of thumb is alwaysbe aware of your surroundings and do not
let anyone get in your personal space. It's later with mo Kelly k If

(16:41):
I am six forty We are liveeverywhere on the iHeartRadio app and speaking of
crime, La Metro North Hollywood saysthat they've seen a forty percent dropping crime.
Now, you might say that fortypercent is either good or bad forty
percent because that's two fifths of allcrime dropping or the fact that you know,
we don't know if that means whatit's at one hundred robberies and forty

(17:03):
percent of a hundred robberies is dropping. You we need some context and we'll
give you that when we come back. You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly
on Demand from KFI AM six fortyfour. Reporter Neil Savata was listening in
last segment, and he texted me, I guess he's he doesn't believe me
when I said that. You know, I go to the gas station and

(17:26):
people would try to sell you stuff, you know, maybe sell you candy
bars, trying to sell you.I don't know their CD I mean literal
CDs of their music. And Ialso said tube socks, and Neil was
saying, who's trying to sell youtube socks at the gas pump? I'm
saying, I didn't get his name. I don't have a conversation with him.
I didn't even go into why hewas there trying to sell clothing at

(17:51):
the gas station. But anyone who'slet's just say, driven through the hood
and gotten gas, you know thatwhen you go to a gas station,
invariably there is somebody there asking formoney, panhandler, someone who wants to
sell you something, or they havea sob story about how they're on their
way back to New York City andjust need an extra two or three dollars

(18:12):
to drive from California to New YorkCity. It's weird of the times I
do go to the gas station almostevery time someone just ran out of gas
and they're just trying to get home. I just want a different lie.
Just give me a different lie,not even a better lie, just give
me a different one, because thatone is all used up. I don't

(18:36):
gas costs a lot. I'm notputting that aside. I'm just saying,
honesty is a better policy or abetter lie. Do you give me the
truth or a really good lie,but not a bad lie? Masquerading is
the truth. But then this isnow, let's talk about La Metro real
quick. Last segment, I waspreviewing how La Metro's North Hollywood station.

(19:00):
And I know this station because Iused to ride it. That's the last
stop, or was the last stopon the Red Line when you were coming
to North Hollywood and I would takethat stop and then I'll get a Burbank
bus to iHeartMedia's studios, so Iknow what that station looks like. Well,
Los Angeles Metro's North Hollywood station isreporting that they've seen a forty drop

(19:25):
in get this, violent incidents,not total incidents, but violent incidents,
and they attribute it to the heightenedscrutiny of fair jumpers. This is from
Nbclos Angeles dot com. Nearly twomonths since the La County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

(19:48):
LA Metro began requiring subway riders totap their cards in and out of the
North Hollywood station, the number ofviolent incidents dropped over forty percent. But
let's stop right there. They don'ttell you how many violent incidents they've had
over what period? Is it adrop of forty percent over a month?
Is it over the past three months? Are you saying that you had ten

(20:11):
violent incidents per day and now youhave only six? And when you say
violent incidents, does that mean thatyou're only seeing four stabbings and two muggings?
Of those ten, are you sayingthat there was one sexual assault and
maybe five robberies. You know,there's no real context because they don't want

(20:33):
you to know that the devil isactually in the details. They call it
to tap to exit pilot. Itstarted back on May twenty eight, so
we're only talking about a month anda half of data. Started on May
twenty eighth, and the goal,the express goal, the state of goal
was ensuring that everyone pays for eachsubway ride coming and going. And now

(20:55):
they're considering it to be a permanentprogram at the station. Let me stop
right there. You're saying to methat you didn't have a permanent program or
expectation in place for people to usetheir tap card to get on and off
the subway. The reason I bringthis up is because when I was riding
the subway in Washington, DC inthe nineteen frikin eighties, you had to

(21:21):
use your subway card to get on, in other words, through the turnstyle,
and to exit the station through theturnstyle. You had to to do
that to get on the train andto get off the train and leave the
station. That was in the latenineteen eighties, early nineteen nineties. Now
La comes along and says, hey, we got this brand new idea.
We have this great idea. Itmight help stem violent incidents on our trains.

(21:48):
We're going to make people use theirtap card to get on the train
and also get off the train andleave the station. We're going to call
it tap to Exit. It's goingto revolutionize transportation in this city. So
now they rediscovered water and they're goingto make this a permanent program at the
station, and maybe they say theymight even expand it across the transit system.

(22:10):
Think of it. They'll expand theprogram where you'll have to use your
tap card and they will monitor use. They will force you to use your
tap card to get on and getoff the train, and then they might
have a forty percent reduction in justviolent incidents, not all incidents, but
violent incidents of some unnamed, nonspecifickind across the transit system. Because they're

(22:33):
having so much success with North Hollywood, and they say through the Transit Watch
app, which is what they say, is there see something, say something
app, they've actually seen reported crime. Again, that's a modifier reported crime,
because we all know that one hundredpercent of crime is not reported.
But they've seen reported crime and incidentsdown over forty percent for things like fights

(23:00):
and disturbances, graffiti, vandalism,and drug use. How do you have
forty percent decrease in graffiti vandalism?Are they counting the scribbles on the window?
I don't know how that works well. The Transit Agency also increased station
staff, including ambassadors, so theyhave more green shirts, they have more

(23:21):
law enforcement officers. According to thisand more transit security guards. So let
me just let me just spitball thisout loud. Do you think that the
forty dropping crime has to do withforcing people to tap to exit or or
just you know, follow me onthis, or maybe does it have more

(23:42):
to do with more law enforcement officersand more transit security guards being available and
visible and accessible. Do you thinkit's to tap to exit or the security
guards and law enforcement, especially whenwe're talking about reported crime, because I

(24:02):
don't know how many tap cards haveever stopped an actual fight or a physical
assault or a sexual assault law enforcement. I think that has happened transit security
officer. Yeah, probably, butI don't know if a tap card has
ever intervened and saved anyone on anyplatform. Hasn't saved any bus drivers how

(24:26):
much your damn sure? No,I don't know if it saved anyone in
the green shirt either. But thisis the latest from La Metro's North Hollywood
station sees forty percent drop in violentincidents and they attribute it to Tap to
Exit pilot program, which may besystem wide before the end of the year.
That's good news. You're listening toLater with Moe Kelly on Demand from

(24:48):
KFI AM six forty earlier today,you might have heard me speaking with Mark
Thompson, who was in for TimComway Junior. Mark put it out on
the air. It's not a bigdeal, but just as a reference point.
Today is my wedding anniversary, eighthwedding anniversary, and my wife came
up to the office. We wentto get some food to eat downstairs at

(25:10):
Morton's Steakhouse, which is right bythe studio. Long story short, she
came up and said hello to everyone, said a load to Robin, said
he looa to Mark Ronner and Tualaand my wife pulled me aside and said,
hey, you know, for thething we should invite Tuala and his
son. Well, what she wastalking about is, you know, we

(25:33):
have like the annual family get togetherand last year we went on a cruise
like the Mexican Riviera Cruz. Youalready know where this is going. And
she was saying, like, waita minute, we're possibly going to do
one in maybe late August ear exceptfor later day weekend, for later day
weekend, and she was saying like, do you think Tuala and his son
maybe would like to go? Isaid, not a chance in hell,

(25:56):
but you're more than welcome to askhim. I didn't want to speak for
you, Twala, but I knowfrom what you said on air that there's
a snowballs chance in hell of gettingyou on a cruise ship. Okay,
now, okay, this is thisis gonna be a major revelation. Let's
have it on the twenty ninth.I originally thought you were going to be

(26:18):
off because I know July of July, so I took that. I took
the twenty ninth off because my family, you know, the co parent and
my kids wanted to go to Catalina. And I said, okay, okay,
you guys, I'm gonna try tojust dip my toe in the water,

(26:41):
go a little bit further than thelittle paddle boats at the park,
and I'm gonna get on this boatwith you and go from the I guess
it's the long Beach Harbor over toCatalina. That that that's gonna be me
getting on a boat into the wildfire if I'm not mistakes. Yeah,
you know, in the open water. Now, now I've been on the

(27:02):
Alcatraz you know boat trip. Igot on that boat. Okay, I
was scared poopless, Okay, Ireally really was, really really was.
But I said to myself, Isurvived no Wells or Wells sharks or watching
Mega as a kid. Yeah,And I threw up repeatedly over and over

(27:23):
again. That was not a goodexperience. It didn't help with my fear
of deep dark water. But I'mgetting on this boat to Catalina as a
precursor to trying to ramp myself upand actually take life by the Cohonas and
possibly get on one of these citiesthat are by the sea that you all

(27:45):
traveling. Yeah, we're talking aboutRoyal Caribbean. We're gonna do it up.
Okay, So I at least haveyou on the podcast as saying you
would consider it. I am lookingtowards considering getting a self. I'm getting
butterflies and nauseous to talk mon thronesright now. You don't feel really the
motion of the ship right now.I feel my heart beating really really fast

(28:07):
talking about it. I am thinkingabout the Megaladon that's gonna come up out
of nowhere because of our warming waters. It's been asleep at the bottom of
the sea. Now it's woken becauseof global warming, and it's gonna come
up and swallow the ship hole.These are the wild things that I think
about when I think about going oncruise shops. Okay, we'll make sure
that Jason Stathum is also available tosave us all. If he's on that

(28:30):
ship signing autographs, I might bewilling to get on this cruise. Okay,
Well that's not a no. Then, at least it's not a no.
It's it's highly unlikely, but nota no. And it's largely dependent
upon how Catalina goes. Yeah,because if I get on that boat to
Catalina, and I've been in theboat to Catalina, You're gonna feel more
on that boat, which is reallya boat as opposed to an actual ocean

(28:55):
liner ship. But see the oldto see at least that one, I
guess it does go over deep oceanwater. So yeah, you won't be
able to touch the bottom. Twalla, I won't be able to like dog
paddle my way. No, youcould actually dog paddle your way, but
you probably won't be too far fromthe shore because it goes along the coast,
the California Baja California coast. Soyou know something, because I can

(29:19):
see I can see the shore forthe most part. Sometimes they do go
out in open water, so youfeel like you have more of a why
why why why? Because I thinkthat's like a day at sea, where
you know, you just out inthe water, floating around in direction.
It's only like maybe twenty twenty fiveat most thirty knots. You're not going
that fast. You're just not I'mgetting sea sick right now. Nah,

(29:41):
you'll be fine to six. Itwon't be the sharks that get you.
It'll be the jellyfish. Well,you can get those, just you know.
I've seen the beach on the beachin Miami. I've seen those now.
Joe Kwan reporter Joe Kwan for aSpectrum also anchored here at KFI.
She talks about getting stung by jellyfishall the time. That's why I stayed
my ass out of the water forthe most part. I don't like things

(30:03):
touching me in the water. Youdon't like things touching your period. That's
true. That's true. I'm consistent. Hey, that wasn't funny. That's
just a statement of fact. Thejudges will accept it, thank you.
Yes see, everyone's conspiring against me. No, but that's true. That's
true. I'm not real big onpeople trying to rob me and hug me
at the same time, and notreal big on jellyfish trying to sting me,

(30:26):
bees trying to sting me. Youknow, people try to beat me
up. Inspiring. I'm not bigon all that, so closed off what
happened? Look, you're one totalk the one I can't even get to.
No, we're talking about you.You're the host of the show.
We're talking about you. The focusshould always be on the host. If
I am six forty, we're liveeverywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Well,

(30:48):
at least you've decided to listen toKFI see you're making progress and the KOST
HD two Los Angeles fine live everywhereon the younger radio