The Hollywood Vice Squad is going to be stepping and fetching for the next few years as Los Angeles County District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, has deputized a task force to investigate claims of sexual assault. The decision follows a colossal spike in assault accusations against entertainment industry heavyweights from A-listers all the way down to the interns who fetch coffee and healthy snacks.
According to Lacey, LAPD’s Sex Crimes Unit has been tasked with vetting all claims before submitting to the newly minted task force prosecutors. That’s public relations speak for weeding out legitimate claims from the 15-minutes of fame folks, and those cases that have exceeded the statute of limitations.
But this is the job that law enforcement is duly sworn to perform, which leads us to ask why the need for a “special” commission to do the same. What does the formation of a task force mean, precisely? Are the casting couches of Tinsel Town receiving a much-needed reupholstering? No. It means there is a face to associate with seeking justice, and blame when it all goes south.
By forming a “special” congregate of experts, Lacey is relaying a message to the public that law enforcement is taking Hollywood debauchery seriously:
“In response to the widespread allegations of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, I have established a task force of specially trained deputy district attorneys who are ready to evaluate these cases if any are referred to my office for criminal prosecution.”
“I have assigned the group of veteran sex crimes prosecutors to work together to ensure a uniformed approach to the legal review and possible prosecution of any case that meets both the legal and factual standards for criminal prosecution.”
Sounds good, right?
Let's take a stroll down political memory lane. It was 1994 when Kenneth Starr was appointed to nose around in Bill Clinton's nefarious deeds concerning Whitewater. In 1998, after an exhaustive and pricey investigation ($30 million) we found out that President Bill Clinton was a liar and adulterer. Despite an incredible embarrassment for all involved, what did we gain? Nothing to write home about.
Mueller? Mueller?
And how is Russiagate going, Robert Mueller? Besides uncovering Hillary Clinton’s evil ways, it has only produced fodder for the left to justify a national screaming movement. How much has the Trump-Russia inquiry cost taxpayers? The answer is; we may never know:
Congress is spending millions of dollars on investigations of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, but it's impossible to tell from public reports exactly how much the probes are costing taxpayers — and the committees running the investigation refuse to talk about it.
Special counsels are created to impress upon the masses that something is being done. And in LA, this task force is no different. For California residents, who apparently enjoy a solid flagellation through taxes anyway, maybe this is just what the doctor ordered after the stars began shooting from the sky following the great Uncle Harvey Weinstein meteor shower. But LAPD already has the experts on the force capable of ensuring a speedy investigation. To add another layer of red tape will only slow the progress down.
This is an exercise in public relations, nothing more. It will cost time, money and pain, and at the end, achieve nothing that couldn’t have been accomplished by a proper administering of the law. As for the brave victims who continue to rat out their abusers, it is with the hope that justice in Hollywood will be swift and merciless.
