Thaindian News

July 21 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A high school student who has been stopped three different times for suspicious activity in the town of Maywood, California says he is not upset by the incidents, as a matter of fact he is thrilled to know that the police are doing their job. “I looked suspicious,” he explains. This occurred in a city where all of the city employees, including police, were fired last month and the jobs were outsourced to nearby towns.

Andrew Quezada does volunteer work for Maywood. “I’m walking along at night carrying an overstuffed bag,” he said, explaining two of the occasions. “I look suspicious. This shows the sheriff’s department is doing its job.”

Just last month, the city officials in Maywood fired all of the city employees, and outsourced their jobs to other areas nearby, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the city of Bell. The poor, crime-ridden, mostly Hispanic city braced for anarchy, but it never came. As a matter of fact, the plan to outsource is now looked upon as an act of “municipal genius.”

There are 19 million dollars in claims which are pending against the police in Maywood, which makes it impossible for the employees of the city to have insurance. The only option the city had besides this outsourcing solution, was to go bankrupt. Instead, about 60 employees were laid off. The reputation of the police, according to the attorney general last year stated, “is one permeated with sexual innuendo, harassment, vulgarity, discourtesy to members of the public as well as among officers, and a lack of cultural, racial and ethnic sensitivity and respect.”

Hector Alvarado, the head of a civic advocacy group perhaps said it best, “Remember the Soviet Union? They had a lot of bureaucracy, and they lost. Maywood was like that. Now people know if they don’t work, they will be laid off. Much better this way.”