officers - The Black Vault

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FD·350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
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(Indicate
page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
(Mount Clippin in Space Below)
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Date: SUN, MAR 24, 1991
Letters to The Times
Edition: OPINION SECTION, PAGE 4
OutcryOv~r
Police Beating
• I am an African-American police officer
for a Los Angeles County law enforcement
agency. I believe that it is high time that
we African-American cops come out of the
"closet" and let the American people know
that yes, there are some bad cops out there
and these cops are abusing their authority
by senselessly abusing citizens; yes, African-Americans
and other minority groups
are targeted by the police; yes, racism
.exists in not only the Los Angeles Police
Department but in most, it not every, law
enforcement agency in the Southland.
African-American police officers have
been placed into a very sensitiv.e and
compromising position. Either we speak
out against our fellow officers and suffer
the consequence of being attacked verbally,
emotionally and possibly physically, or
we remain silent and allow citizens to be
disrespected, physically abused and
stripped of their civil rights.
We have failed by allowing the Rodney
King incidences to continuously occur. We
have failed by allowing ·certain practices
within police departments to go unchallenged
and unheard.
There are those of us who do not deserve
to carry a badge and a gun. There are those
administrators who choose to look the
other way and then claim that it's not
happening in their department: There are
. those who condone the behavior exhibited
by the officers in the King incident.
I can't help but think that King could
have easily been my father, brother, cousin
or other loved one. But the most frightening
thing about the King incident is that
Mr. King could have been me.
RICHARD L. CARROLL JR.
Pasadena
• Judging from the transcripts of the
computer messages released by the .Police
Department, including police officers referring
to African-Americans as being
right out of "Gorillas in the Mist," I'd -say
that there are officers in the LAPD who
are right out of "A Dry White Season" or
"Cry Freedom" (March 19).
If Field Marshal Daryl Gates doesn't see
'fi~ to resign after this latest development,
he is only showing his solidarity with a
troubled and racist system.
SHAUN MASON
Los Angeles
• Am I the only person in Los Angeles who
thinks that the police are nice people?
The men .involved in the videotaped
-beating of King Will now have their
videotaped trial. The police officers who
protect us and our children will continue to
oversee our safety with the same dedication
and integrity that was theirs before
the King incident.
JOHN ADAMS
San Pedro
Title: LETTERS TO THE TIMES
OUTCRY OVER POLICE BEATING
Character: CIVIL RIGHTS
or
Classification: 80-33B
ISubmi'tting Office:
LOS ANGELES
MAR 2 7 1991