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officers - The Black Vault

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.. ~<br />

•. j<br />

•<br />

"It's a symbol and we do not<br />

accept it!" Bakewell yelled as television<br />

news crews thrust their<br />

microphones in front of him. "An<br />

ego feed, that's all it is!" Bakewell<br />

said, referring to th~<br />

Police Department.<br />

Bakewell then turned and plead-­<br />

ed with the crowd to calm down.<br />

"<strong>The</strong>re will be no meeting today ·<br />

as long as that blue stays up ther~,"<br />

he said in a deliberately staccato<br />

voice as the ·crowd broke into a<br />

wild cheer. -...<br />

Seconds later, a police officer<br />

removed the blue covering from<br />

the 25-foot table and returned the<br />

brown covering.<br />

<strong>The</strong> commissioners' meeting was<br />

delayed 15 minutes. "<strong>The</strong> problem<br />

is that this crowd is so incensed in<br />

the aftermath of the King beating<br />

and the court's decision to temporarily<br />

reinstate Gates that little<br />

things are bejng blown out of<br />

proportion," said commission Vice .<br />

President Melanie Lomax.<br />

Probing the LAPD<br />

An independent commission<br />

chaired by former U.S. Deputy<br />

Secretary of State Warren Christopher<br />

intends to bring about<br />

changes in the way the Police<br />

Department and the city do business,<br />

Christopher said. "We don't<br />

want to have just a sterile report,<br />

one that goes O? the shelf," he said.<br />

<strong>The</strong> 10-member panel-.armed<br />

with subpoena power and formed<br />

after the merger of two separate<br />

commissions appointed by Bradley<br />

and Gates-met privately for more<br />

than five hours, appointing a staff<br />

of 13 local lawyers and hearing<br />

testimony from its first witnesses,<br />

former Assistant Police Chief Jesse<br />

A. Brewer and former Deputy Dist.<br />

Atty. Curt Livesay.<br />

Brewer was the highest-ranking<br />

black officer in the history of the<br />

LAPD until he retired two months<br />

ago. Livesay, who stepped down<br />

within the past mont4 was the<br />

county's chief prosecutor on cases<br />

involving the use of excessive force<br />

by police <strong>officers</strong>. .<br />

While the details of their testimony<br />

were not made public, Christopher<br />

said Brewer, who was asked<br />

by Bradley to advise the commission,<br />

briefed the panel on Police<br />

Department hierarchy and is likely<br />

to return to talk about a wide range<br />

of issues, including racial discrimination<br />

and police brutality. ·<br />

"We have a good distance to go<br />

with Chief Brewer," Christopher<br />

said.<br />

· nmes staff writers Louis ·sahagun<br />

and James Rainey contributed to this<br />

story.

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