Images: Los Angeles and New York City
What went wrong with the Los Angeles Police Department during the May Day demonstration at MacArthur Park continues to be asked by city officials, community leaders and even Chief William Bratton, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
Different people interviewed gave different opinions on the actions taken by hundreds of Metro officers to storm a park and strike at thousands of people with their batons or shoot them with their less lethal shotguns. News reporters from different media outlets were also injured. Several of them including two Fox affiliate reporters have filed law suits against the department and the city, for among other things violating a 2002 agreement between the police department and the media that allowed the media to report on assemblies that had been declared unlawful by the police and/or were ordered to disperse.
One reporter Patti Ballaz suffered a fractured wrist, sprained ankle and was hit in the breast with a baton during the incident.
(excerpt)
"If the Los Angeles Police Department does not stand its ground and enforce the law, we will have anarchy," said Ted Hayes, a longtime downtown activist who has spoken out against illegal immigration.
But Merrick Bobb, who serves as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' watchdog of the Sheriff's Department, said law enforcement can control crowds while protecting rights.
"Respectful and constitutional policing is not the polar opposite of effective and responsive policing in crowd control situations," he said. "Both can be achieved through preplanning, training and a clear understanding of protected 1st Amendment speech and news-gathering and 4th Amendment prohibitions against excessive force."
Paul Wertheimer, a crowd control consultant who studied last year's May Day demonstration in Los Angeles, said it appeared that police this week made several mistakes in trying to restore order.
He said officers appeared to have overreacted, moving too strongly against the entire crowd, instead of pursuing the troublemakers throwing rocks and bottles. "Condemning the entire crowd because of the acts of a few provocateurs creates a dangerous situation for everybody," he said. "They needed to separate the elements of the crowd who were causing problems as quickly as they could, but it doesn't appear as if that happened."
Like police agencies throughout the nation, "the LAPD is struggling with how to deal with these types of situations," Wertheimer said. "It's a complex issue that requires a lot of training by police."
This incident occurred when the city's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa was traveling through Mexico and El Salvador. He first heard the news about it when he deplaned and local reporters peppered him with questions about it. Bratton was to have joined him but never left the city after having to address perhaps his biggest crisis since first being appointed chief five years ago.
In fact, Bratton was up for reappointment to another term when all hell broke loose on May Day and afterwards. Questions are being asked, and concerns raised about his leadership as is often the case in situations such as this one which occur on a police chief's watch.
Before the incident, Bratton had at least 13 city council members supporting him and an endorsement from the Los Angeles Police Commission. Whites more enthusiastically supported lengthening his tenure in L.A. than did Black, Latino or Korean-American residents who still believed he needed to do much more in their communities to improve relations.
He did have his opponents including Councilman Bernard Parks who should tread cautiously if criticizing him on this incident and so far he has, because similar incidents happened while he was chief including those involving demonstrations at the 2000 Democratic National Congress.
Does Bratton deserve another five years was the inevitable question asked of different individuals by the Los Angeles Times. The article split the responses between the answers "yes" and "no".
(excerpt)
"William J. Bratton has a mixed record on civil liberties. He has worked to reform a department that still has not won broad support in the city's African American and immigrant communities. Yet he defended the officers who shot Devin Brown, an unarmed 13-year-old, and a federal judge recently found that his police illegally searched people on skid row. Last week, LAPD officers bullied marchers and the media in an ugly show of force in MacArthur Park.
Changing the culture of the Police Department is difficult. Bratton has worked to repair the damage caused by the Rampart scandal, and he supports real civilian oversight. He has changed procedures on how officers pursue suspects and led the charge for flashlights that cannot be used as weapons. On balance, he is leading the LAPD in the direction of needed reform."
---Ramona Ripston
Executive director, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California
"The chief has the right vision for a 21st century LAPD: "[A] police organization, effective against crime and potential terrorist attack, that conduct[s] itself lawfully, constitutionally and respectfully … in a manner that is free of corruption, bias and brutality." He agrees that LAPD culture and incentives must change to produce problem-solving policing that wins the trust of all poor communities of color. Acknowledging the destructive racial damage caused by LAPD actions, he seeks to transform police policy to reduce racial friction. Bratton fills critical positions with smart, progressive, problem-solving officers — leapfrogging them over officers who obstruct change. He enjoys sufficient confidence from the force, ensuring that the reforms he pushes will have a fighting chance to succeed. The chief listens to constructive critics on most issues and deflects political meddling. He does not hesitate to enforce unpopular changes, discipline or necessary risks needed for change. The LAPD is at a crossroads. It needs Bratton's leadership to take it down the right road."
----Constance L. Rice
Co-director, Advancement Project Los Angeles
"Although the officers' union will not always agree with Bratton — and we do not expect him to always agree with us — he has shown a willingness to hear our views and weigh our positions. The current success the department enjoys should be shared by Bratton, LAPD officers and community and city leaders, and we hope to see this success continue."
----Bob Baker
President, Los Angeles Police Protective League
"The chief has spearheaded a campaign to drive poor, mostly African American residents out of a rapidly changing downtown by simply ignoring constitutional protections. Under his highly touted skid row Safer City Initiative, "catch and release" procedures assume people are guilty until proved innocent, a constitutional violation. Low-income downtown residents in minority neighborhoods are indiscriminately handcuffed, searched and often detained on sidewalks for long periods of time solely to intimidate. Bratton must not be granted five more years to create his own rules of engagement at the expense of low-income communities of color."
----Becky Dennison,
Co-director, Los Angeles Community Action Network
"Widespread distrust of the LAPD among blacks and Latinos stems from Bratton's attitude and racially charged comments, especially concerning the Devin Brown and Suzie Pena killings. Bratton has called for greater police transparency but does not support legislation in Sacramento that would require such transparency. Redacting the names of officers involved in shootings, foot- dragging on the consent decree and trumpeting misleading crime statistics all diminish public confidence.
Bratton's claim that the LAPD has "improved relations with diverse communities" by no means describes what is happening in South Los Angeles, where the code of silence remains and cops are routinely abusive, breeding anger, not trust, among residents. Bratton should leave Los Angeles."
----Larry Aubry Member, Community Call to Action and Accountability, and
Los Angeles Sentinel columnist
An activist criticized the LAPD's Metropolitan Division Team which staffed the officers who were assigned to the May Day rally to CNN, saying that the presence of those officers at the demonstration itself was provocative. There were about 600 officers at the park that day.
(excerpt)
"Their presence is provocative," said Carol Sobel, president of the National Lawyers Guild, who has worked with the LAPD to change policies, including when Metro officers are activated.
People react when they see Metro officers "standing there, pointing ... weapons, in black uniforms with their shields down and it's like an enemy state," she said.
In Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley is proposing that major changes be made in his city's police department in terms of how its citizen complaints are investigated and who the results are reported to, according to this article in the Chicago Tribune.
Daley wants to create an office of professional standards that is separate from the currently scandal-plagued department and that reports directly to him. These actions occurred in the wake of several incidents involving offduty officers who assaulted patrons in local bars.
Some people supported this move. Others opposed it.
(excerpt)
"I am grateful that we have come to the realization that the superintendent of the department is not the end-all-be-all, and that there has to be an authority above him in order that the needs of the citizens of the city of Chicago might be met," said the Rev. Albert Tyson, one of a number of clergy who appeared with Daley at a news conference. "It is unfortunate that it has taken this long for it to happen, but we thank the Lord that it is occurring now."
Chicago police union spokesman Mark Donahue said the mayor is "reacting to public pressure." He said the Fraternal Order of Police is supposed to make sure its members get due process if they are accused of misconduct.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said there is a history of trouble in the police department, throwing doubt on Daley's claims that the agency will be independent.
"The administration does not like to review itself," he said, adding that the city can't have a "fox-and-chicken house arrangement."
The San Diego Tribune published an article about changes that will be made to the San Diego Police Department's offduty regulations in part due to the controversial offduty shooting of an NFL football player last year.
San Diego Charger player, Steve Foley was shot and injured by an offduty officer after being followed by that officer who said that he had been driving erratically. Foley later plead guilty to driving under the influence charges.
(excerpt)
The policy was developed through a collaborative effort with the Coalition for Justice, the ACLU and other groups and is believed to be the first of its kind in the county.
The new guidelines say off-duty officers should first try contacting the appropriate law agency so on-duty officers or deputies may respond. If an off-duty officer intervenes, he must – if reasonably possible – identify himself, his agency and his intent to stop criminal conduct.
It also includes a provision that drivers can head to a well-lit area and call 911 to send for a uniformed officer. This provision no doubt came about due to numerous incidents where crimes were committed by individuals posing as police officers who tried to stop motorists.
And in New York City, more controversy there as it's been discovered that several of its police officers have adorned their internet Web sites with explicit images of violence and other offensive items, according to an article in the New York Daily News.
(excerpt)
The wobbly footage of LAPD cops using their nightsticks to hit suspects played on the top right of NYPD Officer Nick Jacobs' MySpace page.
Directly to the left of the video link, a photo shows Jacobs flashing a broad smile, and the page identifies him as an "NYPD officer."
His online photo album includes the vintage poster of a gun-toting cop with words "Hi, I'm going to Kick your a-- & get away with it" and a photo of him in uniform.
When asked about the Web page at his Brooklyn home last Wednesday, the 24-year-old cop assigned to the Brooklyn North Task Force initially tried to explain away the content. He then apologized.
"The reason I put the beating up there is that that's what they do in L.A. and that's what we don't want here," he told The News.
But nothing on the Web page delivered that message.
As for the poster of the gun-toting cop, Jacobs said, "I got it from a college friend, actually."
"It's really not true, though," he added. "Instead of explaining it - I'd rather take it down.
Here are some examples of images posted on several officers' Myspace.com and Facebook sites.
Law enforcement: Helping "perps" slip down stairs since 1766
You want some of this? Protesting: It's just un-American
Nice indeed, especially considering that across the country, the LAPD is embroiled in controversy considering how some of its officers handled themselves at a demonstration earlier last week. But some might say, if this is how they really are, why hide it?
Different people interviewed gave different opinions on the actions taken by hundreds of Metro officers to storm a park and strike at thousands of people with their batons or shoot them with their less lethal shotguns. News reporters from different media outlets were also injured. Several of them including two Fox affiliate reporters have filed law suits against the department and the city, for among other things violating a 2002 agreement between the police department and the media that allowed the media to report on assemblies that had been declared unlawful by the police and/or were ordered to disperse.
One reporter Patti Ballaz suffered a fractured wrist, sprained ankle and was hit in the breast with a baton during the incident.
(excerpt)
"If the Los Angeles Police Department does not stand its ground and enforce the law, we will have anarchy," said Ted Hayes, a longtime downtown activist who has spoken out against illegal immigration.
But Merrick Bobb, who serves as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' watchdog of the Sheriff's Department, said law enforcement can control crowds while protecting rights.
"Respectful and constitutional policing is not the polar opposite of effective and responsive policing in crowd control situations," he said. "Both can be achieved through preplanning, training and a clear understanding of protected 1st Amendment speech and news-gathering and 4th Amendment prohibitions against excessive force."
Paul Wertheimer, a crowd control consultant who studied last year's May Day demonstration in Los Angeles, said it appeared that police this week made several mistakes in trying to restore order.
He said officers appeared to have overreacted, moving too strongly against the entire crowd, instead of pursuing the troublemakers throwing rocks and bottles. "Condemning the entire crowd because of the acts of a few provocateurs creates a dangerous situation for everybody," he said. "They needed to separate the elements of the crowd who were causing problems as quickly as they could, but it doesn't appear as if that happened."
Like police agencies throughout the nation, "the LAPD is struggling with how to deal with these types of situations," Wertheimer said. "It's a complex issue that requires a lot of training by police."
This incident occurred when the city's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa was traveling through Mexico and El Salvador. He first heard the news about it when he deplaned and local reporters peppered him with questions about it. Bratton was to have joined him but never left the city after having to address perhaps his biggest crisis since first being appointed chief five years ago.
In fact, Bratton was up for reappointment to another term when all hell broke loose on May Day and afterwards. Questions are being asked, and concerns raised about his leadership as is often the case in situations such as this one which occur on a police chief's watch.
Before the incident, Bratton had at least 13 city council members supporting him and an endorsement from the Los Angeles Police Commission. Whites more enthusiastically supported lengthening his tenure in L.A. than did Black, Latino or Korean-American residents who still believed he needed to do much more in their communities to improve relations.
He did have his opponents including Councilman Bernard Parks who should tread cautiously if criticizing him on this incident and so far he has, because similar incidents happened while he was chief including those involving demonstrations at the 2000 Democratic National Congress.
Does Bratton deserve another five years was the inevitable question asked of different individuals by the Los Angeles Times. The article split the responses between the answers "yes" and "no".
(excerpt)
"William J. Bratton has a mixed record on civil liberties. He has worked to reform a department that still has not won broad support in the city's African American and immigrant communities. Yet he defended the officers who shot Devin Brown, an unarmed 13-year-old, and a federal judge recently found that his police illegally searched people on skid row. Last week, LAPD officers bullied marchers and the media in an ugly show of force in MacArthur Park.
Changing the culture of the Police Department is difficult. Bratton has worked to repair the damage caused by the Rampart scandal, and he supports real civilian oversight. He has changed procedures on how officers pursue suspects and led the charge for flashlights that cannot be used as weapons. On balance, he is leading the LAPD in the direction of needed reform."
---Ramona Ripston
Executive director, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California
"The chief has the right vision for a 21st century LAPD: "[A] police organization, effective against crime and potential terrorist attack, that conduct[s] itself lawfully, constitutionally and respectfully … in a manner that is free of corruption, bias and brutality." He agrees that LAPD culture and incentives must change to produce problem-solving policing that wins the trust of all poor communities of color. Acknowledging the destructive racial damage caused by LAPD actions, he seeks to transform police policy to reduce racial friction. Bratton fills critical positions with smart, progressive, problem-solving officers — leapfrogging them over officers who obstruct change. He enjoys sufficient confidence from the force, ensuring that the reforms he pushes will have a fighting chance to succeed. The chief listens to constructive critics on most issues and deflects political meddling. He does not hesitate to enforce unpopular changes, discipline or necessary risks needed for change. The LAPD is at a crossroads. It needs Bratton's leadership to take it down the right road."
----Constance L. Rice
Co-director, Advancement Project Los Angeles
"Although the officers' union will not always agree with Bratton — and we do not expect him to always agree with us — he has shown a willingness to hear our views and weigh our positions. The current success the department enjoys should be shared by Bratton, LAPD officers and community and city leaders, and we hope to see this success continue."
----Bob Baker
President, Los Angeles Police Protective League
"The chief has spearheaded a campaign to drive poor, mostly African American residents out of a rapidly changing downtown by simply ignoring constitutional protections. Under his highly touted skid row Safer City Initiative, "catch and release" procedures assume people are guilty until proved innocent, a constitutional violation. Low-income downtown residents in minority neighborhoods are indiscriminately handcuffed, searched and often detained on sidewalks for long periods of time solely to intimidate. Bratton must not be granted five more years to create his own rules of engagement at the expense of low-income communities of color."
----Becky Dennison,
Co-director, Los Angeles Community Action Network
"Widespread distrust of the LAPD among blacks and Latinos stems from Bratton's attitude and racially charged comments, especially concerning the Devin Brown and Suzie Pena killings. Bratton has called for greater police transparency but does not support legislation in Sacramento that would require such transparency. Redacting the names of officers involved in shootings, foot- dragging on the consent decree and trumpeting misleading crime statistics all diminish public confidence.
Bratton's claim that the LAPD has "improved relations with diverse communities" by no means describes what is happening in South Los Angeles, where the code of silence remains and cops are routinely abusive, breeding anger, not trust, among residents. Bratton should leave Los Angeles."
----Larry Aubry Member, Community Call to Action and Accountability, and
Los Angeles Sentinel columnist
An activist criticized the LAPD's Metropolitan Division Team which staffed the officers who were assigned to the May Day rally to CNN, saying that the presence of those officers at the demonstration itself was provocative. There were about 600 officers at the park that day.
(excerpt)
"Their presence is provocative," said Carol Sobel, president of the National Lawyers Guild, who has worked with the LAPD to change policies, including when Metro officers are activated.
People react when they see Metro officers "standing there, pointing ... weapons, in black uniforms with their shields down and it's like an enemy state," she said.
In Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley is proposing that major changes be made in his city's police department in terms of how its citizen complaints are investigated and who the results are reported to, according to this article in the Chicago Tribune.
Daley wants to create an office of professional standards that is separate from the currently scandal-plagued department and that reports directly to him. These actions occurred in the wake of several incidents involving offduty officers who assaulted patrons in local bars.
Some people supported this move. Others opposed it.
(excerpt)
"I am grateful that we have come to the realization that the superintendent of the department is not the end-all-be-all, and that there has to be an authority above him in order that the needs of the citizens of the city of Chicago might be met," said the Rev. Albert Tyson, one of a number of clergy who appeared with Daley at a news conference. "It is unfortunate that it has taken this long for it to happen, but we thank the Lord that it is occurring now."
Chicago police union spokesman Mark Donahue said the mayor is "reacting to public pressure." He said the Fraternal Order of Police is supposed to make sure its members get due process if they are accused of misconduct.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said there is a history of trouble in the police department, throwing doubt on Daley's claims that the agency will be independent.
"The administration does not like to review itself," he said, adding that the city can't have a "fox-and-chicken house arrangement."
The San Diego Tribune published an article about changes that will be made to the San Diego Police Department's offduty regulations in part due to the controversial offduty shooting of an NFL football player last year.
San Diego Charger player, Steve Foley was shot and injured by an offduty officer after being followed by that officer who said that he had been driving erratically. Foley later plead guilty to driving under the influence charges.
(excerpt)
The policy was developed through a collaborative effort with the Coalition for Justice, the ACLU and other groups and is believed to be the first of its kind in the county.
The new guidelines say off-duty officers should first try contacting the appropriate law agency so on-duty officers or deputies may respond. If an off-duty officer intervenes, he must – if reasonably possible – identify himself, his agency and his intent to stop criminal conduct.
It also includes a provision that drivers can head to a well-lit area and call 911 to send for a uniformed officer. This provision no doubt came about due to numerous incidents where crimes were committed by individuals posing as police officers who tried to stop motorists.
And in New York City, more controversy there as it's been discovered that several of its police officers have adorned their internet Web sites with explicit images of violence and other offensive items, according to an article in the New York Daily News.
(excerpt)
The wobbly footage of LAPD cops using their nightsticks to hit suspects played on the top right of NYPD Officer Nick Jacobs' MySpace page.
Directly to the left of the video link, a photo shows Jacobs flashing a broad smile, and the page identifies him as an "NYPD officer."
His online photo album includes the vintage poster of a gun-toting cop with words "Hi, I'm going to Kick your a-- & get away with it" and a photo of him in uniform.
When asked about the Web page at his Brooklyn home last Wednesday, the 24-year-old cop assigned to the Brooklyn North Task Force initially tried to explain away the content. He then apologized.
"The reason I put the beating up there is that that's what they do in L.A. and that's what we don't want here," he told The News.
But nothing on the Web page delivered that message.
As for the poster of the gun-toting cop, Jacobs said, "I got it from a college friend, actually."
"It's really not true, though," he added. "Instead of explaining it - I'd rather take it down.
Whether it's videos of police officers in Los Angeles assaulting people or photographs of weapons, women flashing their breasts or a photograph of a White officer kneeling next to a toy car with a Black child in it with the caption, reading "Racial Profiling: It starts early", the images have upset those who have viewed them including the New York City Police Department. Complicating the issue for that agency is whether or not those who claim to be police officers with that agency on their sites actually are, though the agency said that it has investigated several sites and in at least one case, discipline was given for misuse of the department's logo or equipment for personal reasons.
Here are some examples of images posted on several officers' Myspace.com and Facebook sites.
Law enforcement: Helping "perps" slip down stairs since 1766
You want some of this? Protesting: It's just un-American
Nice indeed, especially considering that across the country, the LAPD is embroiled in controversy considering how some of its officers handled themselves at a demonstration earlier last week. But some might say, if this is how they really are, why hide it?
posted by Five Before Midnight | 12:31 AM
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