officers - The Black Vault

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. FD-350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
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(Indicate page, name of
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
~--------~~~~~~~~=~---~----~o•: WES. ~R26, 1991
S_oT·me Student Perspectives. ·~••o•, METRo sECTION,PAGE 7
1: . PD D It J b SOME STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
Oll· How LA oes s 0 . Title: ON HOW LAPD DOES ITS JOB
i .
: e ilodney King incident has sparked
re ction worldwide. The Times asked stu­
• 'ts at severaz Los Angeles-area high
sc ools'h'ow they feU about law enforcement
in· os Angeles. ·
Fitch Officer Is Different
~ose Avila, Manual Arts High School:
~he videotape does not really relate to
alf•of the LAPD. I don't think all of them
hciY'e the same attitude toward race: .
put on the street, I figure, every P.oli~emtn
is different and not everybody 1s like
· th~t. They're out there to protect us and I
hcpe they'll do a great job. There have
b n negative times, but not as much as
th ; tape showed. It all depends on the
o 'cer and, I believe, in the attitude that
y take up when you are pulled over.
ut f.!lere are certain things they should
sidef.· changing, such as making sure
. e of ,their officers go out there W!th a
r ist attitude or with any .type of attitude
-t · ·t caiit:ause harm.
.
1
h~t Don't We Know?
ionia Soni, Van Nuys .Qigh School
.m ;th-science magnet program:
' think we can't ignore [the R:odney King
e), because that is going to iD:fluence
· the public feels about the pohce. We
r ect and trust them, and after watching
fi e mif\utes of that videotape, it was just a
s 'ck. These are types of authorities that
y •. 'd like to respect, a~d you'd like tQ
klJ9w our system is workmg for us and _we
~being protected. But when so~ethmg
this·comes up, you question, what do I
know? What has been going on? If this
oing· on, then what else is happening
tij;t we aon't know about? And then there
,,; other questions of racism that come to
m d because of the people involved.
:Q_n't Stereotype People
· He;;Y Bernard, Chatsworth High
-School! ~
I think that more police officers can be
hired and put on the streets, but it's going
to take more than that. It's going to take
getting -do~n to t~e roots of why people
actually commit cn~es and w~y th~re are
so .many crimes bemg committed m the
city ..r-People are frustrated and don't have
jobs;1llld that's the main reason for all that
crime.
!Clive in Lake 'View Terrace. The only
thing.·.abnormal about the Rodney King
beating is that it was filmed. I think that
tb!" ...._·lice have to-be trained to respect and
to Y: not to stereotype the people they
·co l:in contact with. Because not all the
~-~~ are out to kill them, and not all
blatkntre criminals, not all Mexicans or
otb~t'liiinorities are criminals·: ·That 'starts
at J.b.~ j1igher level-the sergeants and
[C~,paryl Gates.
R;ise Moral Climate
. 'I
- ~ura Berthol, Taft High School in
Canqga Park:
e;hink [the prevalence of crime] is
bas@lly. from decay of the morals in
society; and I think if you can begin to
tea~ students in high schools, as well as
on tltf:! job and start improving the morality
of ,:~~rica in general, crime will be
redtfcea.lf we can try to work as individualstirmtead
of society as a whole, I think
thare~ -~ start. Not necessarily telling studei),'(S''W'bat
is rigP.t or wrong, but talking
wit1-i't.he students, not at them. Getting to ·
kno:vl'ineir actual opinions and values.
J!18ht now in this society, things are so
hai;!:t.:-in' relation to crime that police are
doi~gJhe best that they can. Which isn't to
say .:tJiere isn't room for improvement. I
don't''tlilnk [Gates resigning) is going to
sol.~e:the problem. I think there are always
gomg:J;q';f>e tensions. · . .
Some Overdo It
·,
Sywio Pacheco, Manual Arts High
SchoOi: ~ .
I;m not against the police. I'm against-the
attitudes some of the policemen take. I'm
not saying all the cops are the same way. I
knQW some cops and I know they're not
Character:
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MAR 281991
FBI -
LOS ANGELES
Otitgunned by Criminals
I ....
Christopher Setti, St. Francis High
School in La Canada:
Ii think most of the crime in L.A. County
is gapg crime. The best way to get away ·
from· gang crime is through community
cent&s and giving young adults the option
to 9o~something other than join gangs. And
more education has to be done-antidrtlgs,
especially.
~ think for the most part, the police do a
fairly good job. There are i~dividual policeme,h
who deserve not to be police officefs-[those
in the King case] being prime
· e~mples-but on the whole, the police are
do~ng the best job that they can. They're
un~erstaffed and they're outgunned by the
criplinals today.
It's a shame that there's prejudice and
rolice officers [like ·ones -involved in the
¥ing case] can be weeded out. -
FBitooJ
bad guys. But some of the policemen take it ~~ . ~
~s~riousorth~ybeco~eobsessedwithit 1 / 1 / II .. JA .... f/qfi ;.. -/ti-.:e
--~~~and
ij}gy,overdo 1t sometimes. l.f"'HT (....- _
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