officers - The Black Vault

• I am shocked and outraged at yet another
example of LAPD officers' violence against
- citizens, and do not believe it to be the
"aberration" cited by Chief Gates. I am
even more shocked, however, to learn that
we, the taxpayers of this city, paid over $8
.million last year for settlements involving
police misconduct!
I have a suggestion that might stop
police violence and/or racism overnight:
Institute a policy of deducting all of this
year's police brutality suit/settlement
costs from the salaries of all LAPD officers
in 1992. Any such costs incurred in 1992
could be deducted in 1993, and so on. I
.suspect that no only would the reports of
·brutality diminish considerably, but that
fellow officers witnessing events such as
the one videotaped wouldn't be so inclined
to stand around, idly watching the "show."
CLYDE KUNZ
Los Angeles
. • The brutal beating of King by a gang of
. LAP:O officers must be the last under the
••
Associated Press
Rodney King shows his bruised ~hest. .
regime of Gates. It is a sad day when the
citizens of Los Angeles must fear for their
lives when being pulled over for speeding.
If not for a bystander with a video
camera, this incident would be just another '
footnote inside a police report. The millions
of dollars in judgments already paid to
victims represent only the tip o{ the
iceberg. The tone for police conduct is set .
by Chief Gates and the nature of that
conduct suggests it is time for Gates to go.
CRAIG A. NELSON
SanDie~o
• Is the beating of King an aberration? If I,
a black man, and some black friends were
not stopped, roughed up, handcuffed and
ankle-cuffed and detained for two hours
while walking back to my car after a late
·show in Westwood, then I, too, would have
thought the beating was an isolated incident.
Chief Gates should resign.
. DARRENHAYLOCK
VanNuys
• The March 6 article quotes Gates, "One
incident doesn~t indict an entire department."
If the police chief expects the public
to believe that, then I'd guess that for
every "El Salvadoran drunk that doesn't
belong here that kills a cop," there are at
least a dozen LAPD officers prepared to .
perform the "swarm technique" on a
defenseless citizen. Swarm technique?
Looks like a blitzkrieg to me. .
JORGE LUIS DIAZ SR.
Los Angeles
• Cameraman George Holliday's videotape
shows that the videocam is mightier than
the nightstick.
GERRY FALLON
San Marino
i. Words cannot express the emotions I felt
upon seeing the videotape of the unfortunate
human being, Rodney King, who was
e.nduring inhuman treatment at the hands
•
of those who vow.ed to serve and protect. I
flinched and my stomach turned. I couldn't
believe how long the beating lasted. Only
animals in a feeding frenzy would act as
those so-called "men" did.
I, along with thousands of citizens, ·am
watching to 'be certain justice is done for
this poor soul. My gratitude to the brave
Mr. Holliday, who filmed this outrage and
left no doubt as to the actual facts.
DIXIE MITCHELL
.Irvine
·• As a·huinan being, my heart goes out to
.Rodney King. As an African-American
· male, l·teel angry be.cause I know very
well that it could have been me. .
· As a street intellectual, I find it interest­
.ing that "responsible" people (i.e., white)
are surprised at how cowardly and brutal
their "police force" can be.
As a black nationalist, I wonder when
African-Americans will wake up and see
that: ( 1) we are still the unpopular color in
a color-conscious society; (2) that· no
amount of integration, miscegenation or
acculturation is ever going to change that,
and (3) that ultimately we still only have
what we had when .we first came to this
cruel land-each other.
ALVIN VINCENT GRIMES
Los Angeles
• Does the beating of King portray a few
bad apples or a rotten barrel, as Jerome
.Skolnick suggests (Commentary, March
7)? A case could be made, from a statistical
point of' view, that the chance that a few
bad apples converged on the scene, f_rom _a
·~random" assortment, at the same tim~ IS
possible, but not probable. An alternative
viewpoint would" suggest that the_re m~y ~e
an underlying patt~rn of behaviOr Withm
the department that encourages such brutality
by the officers.
Last year Los Angeles shell~d out $8
million to victims of police brutahty. In our
age of high-tech innovations, couldn't that
amount of money be allocated for the
purchase of camcorders that could be
installed in police cars to record th~
interactions between officers and suspects?
This arrangement would ?ffer _vi~ua.l evidence
in support of the officers m mcidents
such as drunk drivers, suspected felons,
etc., and maintain the "sunshine" of truth
which may suppress such future outrageous
behavior.
MICHAEL W. SMITH
· Mammoth Lakes