officers - The Black Vault

•
mayor of Los Angeles for 18 years, Tom
-Bradley, is African-American. Direct
· control of the personnel and training
bureaus in the LAPD was held, until his
recent retirement, by an assistant chief of
. police, Jess Brewer, a highly respected
police administrator. He happens to be
African-American. During the three
high-growth years, tlle internal-affairs
division, which jnvestigates charges ·of
• LOS ANGELES TIMES INTERViEW:
Police Chief Daryl F. Gates comments
on the Rodney G. King case. Page 3.
. police misconduct, was directed by three
. different captains, two of . whom are
~. Afr~can-;Americans. The percentage of.
· Afncan-American officers in the department
exceeds the percentage of African­
·. Americans in the city's population.
• I do not . thus believe there is any
· racially based institutional prejudice
: within the LAPD. For 18 years, Bradley
has appointed the police commissioners,
. who actually run the department. In most
' cases, they have been social liberals,
: lawyers among them. They have paid
t close _attention to racial concerns and to
phe problem of excessive force.
For the last 40 years, the Los Angeles
Police Department has been a model for
police forces across the nation. The problem
that confronts us now is whether we
are going to allow the vivid videotaped
evidence of the misconduct of several
officers to destroy citizens' faith in the
department. Will this incident ruin the
reputation that the LAPD has enjoyed for
many decades? Should .we demand the
firing of the chief of police or the
vilification of the average officer?
I made a point of recently checking into
whether LAPD command officers continue
to do something that has always been
necessary but distasteful. ·
Are they stU! getting up at odd hours of
the night to drive to their districts of
responsibility so that they may be the
first officer to respond to calls?
.Are they inspecting and reviewing how
the calls are ··being ans·wered .by other
officers?
I learned that these off-hour inspections
are still numerous and vigorous. I
have not, in fact, ·seen one shred of
evidence that the department has sud~
denly declined from a position of generally
conceded excellence to become a
department of bad cops.
' Furthermore, as chief, I never feit th~t
I
community relations could be effecttvely.
· taught in the classroom. Rather, comrriU-~
1
nity relations should be taught in the­
' laboratory, that is, in the neighborhoo~:
Accordingly, I created and established'
the Neighborhood Watch Program, whichcalls
for officers regularly to meet, confer
and have coffee with the members of the,
community they serve. These kinds -of
contacts can positively alter the attitudes·
-.of officer and citizen toward each other. ·
Before we condemn the whole depart-·
ment, perhaps we should examine_~;.
facts. Let's see if there is any evidence at
all that the LAPD, or its leadership: ha$?
'fallen down on their jobs. ~ .,::,• ~
I have known thousands of off~c~rs:
-· duting my career.!ylost were trustwortllyand
hard-working; some were downrigbt;
heroic. More officers than the public, can:
imagine are incensed by the dish~r-:
·brought upon the department by J.he:­
videotaped beating.
·. ··•
..:~ :
All those men and women who ha:Ve-:
valiantly served in the past and contin~:·
.to do so deserve better than to-;be··
condemned out of hand by actions· qf}l:
few miscreants. Let's keep the faith :wf11{
more than 8,000 brave, honest and eO'm:."'
passionate Los Angeles police officerS:-··:."cf_
.. ·.