LA POLICE COMMISSION FAILS
On Nov. 15, the LA Police Commission trotted out a dog and pony show from the LAPD about its effort to eliminate so-called biased policing and racial profiling. Moving from LAPD HQ to City Hall across the street, the hearing was still surrounded by armed, uniformed cops as the IG and various cops presented the 143-page report and the LAPD heard from community groups and public comment. The report, predicated on the idea that ‘bias’ is a problem of individual cops that can be dealt with through training or supervision, ignored the fundamental mission and nature of the police as enforcers of a system of exploitation and white supremacy. As the saying goes, the law in its majesty forbids the rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges. The problem is not the misconduct of a few cops, it’s the conduct of police as an occupying army in communities of color and an internal border guard in more privileged area.
As the report acknowledged. during the first half of 2016, there were 209 reports of bias, none of which were sustained. And since 2013, none of the more than 1500 civilian complaints of bias have been substantiated by the LAPD. Of the 10 other agencies the LAPD looked at, only San Diego, San Jose, and Washington DC had sustained even one or 2 allegations of bias in the last five years. As the ACLU pointed out in testimony, LAPD makes more warrantless stops per officer than the NYPD did at the height of its unconstitutional ‘Stop and Frisk’ program. Members of Black Lives Matter, Youth Justice Coalition, LA CAN , Stop LAPD Spying Coalition and White People for Black Lives all spoke about the impact on the community of systemic police racism and the fact that LAPD is the most murderous in the country the 3rd year in a row.
The fact that the Commission is part of the problem was underscored the following week when they again ordered the arrest and manhandling of 80-year-old Black activist Tut Hayes for allegedly speaking off-topic during his 2-minute public comment. Black Lives Matter leads people weekly in attending the LAPC meetings, 9:30 AM every Tuesday at LAPD HQ (enter at 2nd & Main) to support the families of people killed by the LAPD and demand justice and the firing of Chief Beck.
