officers - The Black Vault

•
The seminar, Lewis said, is "just
aPR campaign" in the wake of the
:({ing incident.
Bernard, also dissatisfied, said
she felt she was just "getting
rule-book answers about ho~ the
police are supposed to act." ·
The discussion of discipline
brougnt wide-eyed disbelief from
· William Thomas, an insurance
salesman from Pacoima, who asked
Mutz: "Are you telling us that if
you stop me for anything, I cim
demand to talk to your supervisor?"
"Yes," answeredMutz.
However skeptical some in the
audience might have been, others
s;tid they had come. with open
minds to learn how the Police
Department operates.
"I came out to find out if the
quality of police service has gone
down," Phil Tabbi of Sun Valley
said before the meeting. "We're
interested in what's going on."
Despite his skepticism, Thomas
~aid the seminar enabled many
people to get "stuff off their-chests.
There ha_ve , been more beatings
. than just the one of Rodney King."
Kroeker, transferred to the San
Fernando Valley lifter the King
beating, told the meeting that "a
lQt of goodwill in the city has been
wiped out" by the incident, which
has resulted in four officers being
charged with assault. .The community
seminars, he said, are "goodthings
arising from something very
destructive."
The first session attracted only.
40 people to the F09thill Division
station March 26. As a result,
Wednesday's meeting was moved
to the recreation center on Foothill
Boulevard to reach people who
~ight be reluctant to come to tl:te
station, Zine said.
"There is a lot of misunderstanding
about _what the police can and
~annot do," Officer Ken Roth said
after the meeting. "We don't have
carte blanche. We have 'to go by
the rules. A lot of the public doesn't ·
· realize that. The forum tonight was
.positive because it informed the·
public31bout police procedures."
I