officers - The Black Vault

FD·359 (Rev. 5·8·81)
•(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
Area Chiefs Try to Minimize!~::;",
Fallout From King Beating
ByJOSH MEYER
TIMES STAFF WRITER
As the national controversy brewed
over the beating of Rodney G. King at
the hands of some Los Angeles police
officers, Santa Monica Police Chief James
F. Keane began getting messages of
support from members of his own community.
Keep up the good work, some people
told the chief. Don't let the Los Angeles
·Police Department controversy get you
down, said others.
Keane had all the messages, many of
which arrived via the city's innovative
public computer network, printed up
together, and made sure they were read
aloud at roll calls and meetings so that
every one of his department's 161 sworn
officers could hear them.
Fearing that the resulting cloud over
the LAPD might spread west to his
department, Keane said he wanted to
make sure his officers knew that they
were not viewed with scorn and suspicion
by everyone in the community. "I'm
sure the officers on the street get [angry]
comments made at them," Keane said
this week. "So I think these messages
were appreciated."
As Los Angeles police try to weather
the turbulence that has come with the
King beating and the furor it has created,
Keane and the police chiefs of the
Westside's other two independent police
forces-in Beverly Hills and Culver
City-said this week that they have felt
the need to address the issue as well.
So far, four LAPD officers have been
charged and entered not guilty pleas in
the March 3 beating of King. As the
investigations continue, the incident has
exposed an undercurrent of tension between
the LAPD and segments of the
community it protects.
LAPD officers say their rules of en-
LOS ANGELES TIMES
THURS. MAR 28, 1991
WESTSIDE SECTION, PAGEl
Title: AREA CHIEFS TRY TO
MINIMIZE FALLOUT FROM
KING BEATING
Character:
~ CIVIL RIGHTS
Classification: 80-33B
Submitting Office:
IDS ANGELES
lndE~_g,:..· -----:--.---'"'"""'l
SEARCHED.____ INDEXE0 ____ 1
SERIALIZED. ___ FILED·----1
APR ~'"J 1991
FBI -
LOS ANGELES I
gagement have informally changed since
the videotape of King's beating became
national news. They say they have tried
to be more cautious and even more
courteous, perhaps, and that they have
encountered more hostility than usual
from the public.
I
n the relatively peaceful enclaves of
Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Culver
City, however, the police chiefs say
that much of tha~ tension is, and always
has been, absent.
Each of the three police forces has
fewer than 200 officers, compared to
· ·more than 8,300-on the Los -Angeles
force. Each department is therefore
far easier to manage, with
much more direct. supervision of
officers. The three cities are considerably
more affluent and less
vulnerable to violent crime than
·Los Angeles, and citizens are appreciative
that serious crimes in
many cases actually has decreased
during the past few years, the
chiefs said.
Keane, Beverly Hills Police
Chief Marvin D. Iannone and
· Culver City Police Chief Ted Cooke
said their departments have taken
. no special measures or issued any
directives in the wake of the LAPD
controversy.
Iannone and Cooke said they too
have talked to their troops in an
effort to keep morale up, and to
remind them of the need to make
sure the appropriate use of force
never escalates into police brutality.
\, FBI/DOJ
L/ ti- ttl-uq.qrsV