Residents of Los Angeles are sounding the alarm after a video showed a pair of Los Angeles' "security ambassadors" standing idly by as an apparent road rage assault unfolded in the West Hollywood area.
The incident comes as the push to defund the police and replace them with unarmed law enforcement personnel has fallen short of expectations.
Kevin Dalton, a West Hollywood resident, told Fox News' Ashley Strohmier on Monday that the change has wreaked havoc on the community and replaced those qualified to apprehend criminals with those essentially rendered defenseless.
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"This is exactly the results of the Defund the Police movement," he said. "It has taken away trained, armed law enforcement and replaced them with kids with reflector vests, and criminals know it."
The "security ambassador" program took aim at deputies by replacing them with the unarmed law enforcement support after West Hollywood City Council members voted to make the change and cut funding amid skyrocketing crime last year.
Mayor Sepi Shyne continues to defend the program, saying, "It's worked because crime has gone down. Priority for us is safety, and we are safer than we have been in the past. Crime is going to happen."
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Video of the road rage incident from Friday shows two of the area's "ambassadors" standing near an intersection in their reflector vests and blue shirts, observing as two people engage in a fight before their eyes.
"They're just standing there watching the crime happen," Dalton said. "These are the consequences [of the Defund the Police movement]… It just doesn't work. There was one point that crime had skyrocketed 130% in West Hollywood alone and, again, you're taking away trained officers that have a stake in their community," Dalton continued.
"These guys don't have that. They're collecting a paycheck at best, and they're making the city significantly more unsafe."
Dalton also voiced concerns that similar types of policies are expanding to other communities, including one of the officials behind the policy who is now pushing to bring similar programs county-wide.
He added that, while many California residents head to the voting booth with anti-gun sentiments, they also want to know they can be protected by someone with a gun when their lives are in danger.
Ethan Reynolds, the bystander who recorded the incident from Friday, also spoke out on the security ambassadors' inefficacy, according to KCAL-News in in Los Angeles.
"If the Block by Block Ambassadors are not empowered to mitigate situations like this, which do seem to occur often in West Hollywood, truly it does give us a false sense of security and I think that's extremely frustrating as a resident," he said.
Eddie Aguglia, another resident, also complained of the crime spike that followed the policy change, according to the outlet.
"You look at it and say Jesus come on do something," he said, adding, "Whatever policy is in place that made them react the way they reacted has to be changed."
