officers - The Black Vault

FD-350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
•
•(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
Call for Gates
to Resign
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
Letter$ to The Time.&'·
• In response to "For Chief Daryl Gates,
the Moment Has Come" (editorial, March
19): I want to thank The Times for its
editorial about why Chief Daryl Gates must
_hand in his resignation:
You see, I'm a black citizen of Los
Angeles. I was raised in Georgia and this
feels like living in the pre-civil rights era
in Los Angeles.
'The police use polarizing words just
giving jaywalking or parking tickets. Now
on the voice tapes from the Rodney King
. case we hear the racially disparaging
comments from the officers (March.l9).
Do the citizens of Los Angeles want the
world to see our city ~s a new racist
· stronghold?
I feel the officers ·in the King case wlll be
whitewashed by the system. They .will do a
few months in a luxury jail at taxpayers'
expense.
All the officers should be fired: Color is
not .the issue. But to Chief Gates and his
officers, there are lots of hard-working
law-abiding citizens, black ·and Latino,
who now have no respect for your officers
who have used brute force on minorities
for years and got off scot-free. Well no
more, Mr. Gates. You are a shame. and the
nation and world now .know about your
_terror and ugliness. ·
MIKE DAVIDSON
Los Angeles
•. All the hu~ and cry to oust Gates from
community "leaders" and even The Times
is nauseating. We citizens need to shoulder
. the responsibility to create a societal
climate calling for police .officers to be
kinder and gentler. Just in case you
· haven't noticed, Los Angeles is not exactly
the epitome of tranquility. What type of
. officer would you want to respond to your
call, a Mr. Rogers? Until then we all can
expect occasional outbursts of violence by
the Los Angeles Police Department, no
matter who is the chief.
'
MATTHEW NADLER
'
Los Angeles
.• In regard to your editorial calling for
.Chief Gates to resign, you .are probably
right. He has definitely lost the confidence
and trust of the majority of the people in
this city. · . .
However, I have one real problem with
:. 'him resigning. Who will our city leaders
Datef'OS ANGELES TIMES
Edition: TUES. MAR 2 6 , 1991
~~TRO SECTION, PAGE 6
Title: LETTERS TO THE TIMES
replace him with? As much as Gates has
lost the trust and·confidence of the people, CALL FOR GATES TO RESIGN
our city leaders have displayed that they
are incompetent in selecting good people. Character: CIVIL RIGHTS
Because of the public uproar, I fear that or
they will. try to find a milquetoaSt kind of Classification: 80-3 3 B
chief instead of one who has the skills Submitting Office:
needed to police this city.
IDS ANGELES
HARVEY· J. GLASS 1------------
·. Sherman Oaks · lnde.;;xin::.:;g~:-----~-=:-----,
I. Your editorial asking for Chief Gates to
be removed and the usual Conrad "cheap
shots" were predictable. '· .. ·
The LAPD under· Gates has been and is
one of the finest ·in the world by any
yardstick. It is more professional, more
integrated and more motivated than any
such force I caq recall in my 64 years in
'Los Angeles.
No one condones ·the excessive force
used and the brutal beating given to the
felon, ·lawbreaker King. However, using
the words of yqu and black leaders when
their community is criticized, "Don't condemn
all our people for the actions of a
few." . .
Getting rid of Chief Gates is not going .to
.make the streets any safer in South Los
Angeles and it's not going to improve the
criine rate among young blacks. It cer!ainly
is going to make the rest of L.A ..
unhappy and resentful and not as safe:
· Get rid of the policemen who abuse th~ir
.authority and let's move on. The job is hard
enough without all the self-serving rhetoric.
·
R.P. POMI
Marina del Rey
• My complimentS· to 'rh~ Times for
presenting its well-written position regarding
the resignation of Gates. I recognize
that the job ·of a Los Angeles police
officer is .not an easy one, but it doesn't
make it easy .on Los Angeles citizens to be
·~protected" .by an Archie Bunker-type
police force. ·
Yes, the "moment has come .. :~·for all
Los Angeles citizens to recognize that we
·live in a city ·that will continue to have a
diverse population. 'Our backgrounds make
up thousands of combinations of ·races,
· nationalities, religions and even sexual
'preference. If you .can't accept the very
facts which makes this a great place to live,
then why live here? ·
MARC SOBUL
North Hollywood
SEARCHED·--- INDEXED·---1
SERIAUZED·-~- fiLE0·----1
MAR 2 7 1991
FBI - LOS ANGELES ~
·• I am appalled by the brutal beating of
King. I am also appalled by The Times'
swift editorial plea for Gates to resign. If
:we are to assume that Gates' management
· brought on this violent act and that the
individuals inv{)lved were not independ­
. .ently responsible, then we must assume
t~at Mayor Tom Bradley should also resign
·:because of the climate of continuing unethical
behavior of'his appointees. ·
· · Certainly leaders {)f this community
seem to have different sets of values in this
situation. Gates is .responsible for what his
people do, but Bradley is not? One should
: resign, but not the other? ·
. , THELMA J. BULLOCK
- Los Angeles
£ • Conrad's cartoon of March 14 is by far his
most outrageous yet! His dubious attempt
to create linkage between President Bush's
·'·anti-crime bill and the recent inappropriate
and intolerable actions of the Los
Angeles Police Department is irresponsible · ·
and naive. Mai I suggest that he also take
the .time to read the Bill of Rights which he
. .so loosely uses to clutter up his drawings.
·His lack of appropriate restraint is not
. dissimilar to the baton.:wielding characters
· pictured in his drawing.
. JON ·zAICH
Irvine