I've written a few blogs about the LAPD and the lopsided form of justice the City of Los Angeles faces when an officer is fired...and at times, unjustly. I am going to use three examples where officers were fired and the stories were swept under the rug of the People of Los Angeles. Now, am I calling the department evil and racist? Nope. Just the people running it and I will attempt to show you what I mean. Three major incidents that left the city not only in ruins, but placed a bad light on the men and women putting their lives on the line so that our city would be protected. This misdirected anger cost us millions of dollars and game played keeps the people in the dark.
Let us begin with Rodney King.
01) Rodney King was an interesting case. King was being pursued by the California Highway Patrol for DUI, and was eventually stopped. The pursuit eventually ended on the streets of Los Angeles and the LAPD took over the arrest. Well then, after the arrest, we saw the infamous video of King getting pummeled helplessly by the LAPD. This video spread all over the world and anger was brewing that four officers were beating up a poor black man.
The controversy started though after the not guilty sentence in Simi Valley Ca. A riot broke and the City of the Angels became the City of Demons. The flash point of the riot started on Florence and Normandy, which spread all over Los Angeles. The City of Los Angeles was in flames and the sad day resulted in arrests, stemming from looting to homicides. Videos of middle-aged women on their knees were handcuffed for shop lifting, graffiti of hatred for the LAPD was scrawled, and the smoke of burning buildings, trees, cars, businesses, homes waft like a plume of smoke after the allies bombed the living Hell out of the axis.
When all was said and done, the destruction and anger left a mark deep in the hearts of many Angelinos and visitors who were stuck, not being able to go home. The relationship between the police and people were destroyed, much like the buildings the masses destroyed. If emotions had a picture, it was the destruction we all saw and that destruction was in their heart...deep inside OUR hearts.
Then the federal hearings commenced. The feds wanted to know if King's civil rights were violated. According to the jury, King's rights were violated, the officers fired and justice was served...but something did not feel right.
02) Then came the Rampart scandal. This evil shocked the city, state and country when four officers were convicted of stealing drugs and torturing gang members as well as immigrants in the poor neighborhood where these former and disgraced members of the street gang unit CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) patrolled.
Former Chief of Police Bernard Parks now city council member, took a strong stance against the corrupt LAPD, and fired or suspended officers who "Should Know or Should Have Known" that their partners or coworkers were corrupt. And if an officer did not report the crime to their supervisors or suspect their partner or coworkers were committing a crime, they too would be disciplined...and most had nothing to do with the Rampart corruption.
The officers were hyper-aware of everything. The academy was teaching the recruits to report all crimes or suspected crimes so that the city would be the safe-haven it once was. Where the pride of law enforcement around the world could once again emulate the best law enforcement agency of the world, because, the world's-best P.D. would once again be the envy of the world. A tough-on-crime-but-fair police department would be looked upon as what every law enforcement should be. The savior of the LAPD came in and actually cleaned house...but then again, this too did not feel right.
03) Racist pictures, a bone in a cake, racist literature was strewn all over the LAPD's Central Division walls, even racist text messages were sent to the victim's phone and when the LAPD management got word of it, they pushed everything into high gear and demoted three officers and fired a white sergeant. The LAPD once again cleaned house of the bad apples and once again, made the LAPD the beacon in the night. The proverbial lighthouse in the night, guiding all the folks to be just like the LAPD...and again, I say, something is not right and I can prove it.
01) When the officers were convicted in federal court for violating King's civil rights, why was it that the commanders involved were not punished? If you seen the video, you know that the officers never did anything to hide what they did. As a matter of fact, the techniques used was approved by the department heads and any deviation would result in discipline. It was proven they complied to all the rules in the LAPD and the officers were found not guilty.On the other hand, in federal court, the officers' training violated the civil rights of the people.
02) The officers involved in the Rampart scandal led to a multimillion dollar lawsuit, some of the officers were eventually fired or disciplined, while many who were disciplined, got their jobs back according to PBS' Frontline. The war on corrupt cops cost us more than $125 million in settlements, yet not one commanding officer was punished. One as a matter of fact became Chief of the LAPD.
03) With racist material strewn all over the station, the best thing to do was to discipline the officers. Racism has no part in the new LAPD. This form of discipline is fair, and yes can be harsh, but what good is it when only the highest-ranking union member is fired, while the command staff did nothing to stop this?
All three stories ripped the core of the center of Los Angeles. It brought distrust to the people of Los Angeles, and the continual saga of racism, has enveloped the world's-best law enforcement in the world, but it should surely continue when those in charge are hidden behind the
Parker would not have skated over former chief Bernard Park, the former police chief and Central bureau commander during the Rampart Scandal. Nor would Parker would have promoted LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, because of his inaction and lack of knowledge of the Rampart scandal and captain at the time would raise a lot of questions. And he definitely would not have fired Sergeant Peter Foster, because according to court records, the racist material was strewn all over the station, therefore, Central Bureau Commander Blake Chow, Captains Daryl Russell and Todd Chamberlain would be looking for a job now and not be transferred out to cover their rear-end.
The corruption is not just limited to the members of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, no. But to the commanders who order the officers to do as they are told or face discipline. The department is the byproduct of the leaders who teach. And their teaching led to civil rights violations. The arrest of Rodney King was deemed unconstitutional. Yet not one of the commanders were ever and maybe will never be held accountable for their roles as corrupt civil servants.
When corporate CEOs commit crimes, they are disciplined at a blink of an eye. Yet the bosses of the LAPD seem to have a pass to do as they wish and are quite immune from discipline themselves for their wrongdoing. I mean think about it. How come the above-mentioned commanders never saw the racist materials in the station? Does not the command staff know what is happening in the station? Granted most don't like to be micromanaged, but the pictures mentioned in previous posts should have been taken down or those who participated in the act, disciplined.
And those participated in the act, why weren't they immediately warned? I took a Human Resources Class, and the requirements, according to state law, in order to fire someone, there are four basic steps needed to terminate an employee:
- Verbal warning
- Written Warning
- Days off
- Firing
Or is there a history of cover-up, within the LAPD management, allowing the public (like Occupy, community groups, attorney Steve Yagman, (an attorney who was convicted of a felony; sued the LAPD Officers for civil rights violation but was never investigated until he decided to sue the LAPD Command Staff with an LAPD officer as a plaintiff) to sue officers and to be pitted against the officers but not the commanders? Is this part and parcel of our tax money going to waste? Is this business as usual?
And think for a second. Though Foster never posted any racist materials in the station, and according to court documents, not one of the command staff in Central division: Chow, Russell and Chamberlain, ever said anything about the posting done by Foster's underlying, maybe then, there was nothing racist to begin with? Ever thought about it?
But because the silliness saw the light of day, outside of the confines of the station, heads were going to roll. The highest commanding officer to get fired was Foster. Not: Chow, Russell and Chamberlain? Why? Why was a Sergeant 2 fired and not the commanders? Maybe because, what amounted to horseplay, resulted in embarrassment. And because of this, they had to fire someone. And because Foster was the ONLY white male, he was the perfect candidate.
Christopher Dorner's manifesto never mentioned horseplay. He did mention the disciplinary system. He did mention the role, folks like: Chow, Russell and Chamberlain play and how innocent folks officers were victims of the LAPD command staff. They were fired or suspended because people like Chow, Russell and Chamberlain did not rein in the troubled officers...well, maybe they didn't have to, because, there never was a problem to begin with. That what Foster and the people who he supervised, were never an issue.
Then came the story with the third and fourth paragraph reading:
LAPD command staff under fire in wake of $38 million in harassment, discrimination payoutsAnd Beck's rise to chief is no aberration but the norm.
http://www.dailynews.com/crime/ci_19275067
"I have a running joke," said attorney Gregory Smith, who has filed about 50 lawsuits on behalf of officers against the Los Angeles Police Department.
"If I sue a supervisor, they're going to get promoted within the next six months. Why that happens is anybody's guess."
There is a two-tiered form of justice that is costing the City more than several hundred million dollars if not billions, to protect the kingdom of the LAPD. When the LAPD consent decree was ended, the feds said that the LAPD Officers were reformed. But working and reporting about the LAPD for more than 10 years, and building trust, I could have told you that and save several millions of taxpayer dollars. The real investigation should have started from above.
The true problem was not the officers, but the commanders hiding facts, and embarrassing events that would make the LAPD look bad. That a protection scheme, for a lack of a better term was implemented to protect not only chief and mayor, but their contributors, like the banks. When Occupy Wall Street Los Angeles started to unravel the web of lies and deceit spun for example by the major banks, who donated to the mayoral campaign, who is in charge of the LAPD, this had to end. The tent city was not an issue, but making people aware of the lies and corruption. This is what former Dorner was talking about. The racism he felt was not by the rank-and-file but from the command staff. His manifesto spells it out in detail and he ended up dead.
The LAPD command staff said look at the shiny object. Look at the corrupt officers just after the Rodney King incident, the Rampart incident, the Central incident, not at us. No, we are victims. We keep the officers in line. We protect you from the evil and racist officers and Dorner was talking about racists like Foster and not us...lies.
After the bank collapse and foreclosure which started to happen in 2008, according to LAPD officers close to the bank investigation said that there were officers who lost their homes. After criminal complaints were filed, detectives from the DHD (Detectives Headquarters Division) decided to take the case. According to my sources, the command staff was ordered by the mayors office to end the investigations.
There were also sources who were saying arrests were imminent and Los Angeles was on the forefront of blowing this case wide open. But because of the relationship the banks had with the Mayor of Los Angeles, not one bank administrator was arrested. The mayor quashed any investigation and officers lost everything. Were the LAPD officer irresponsible? No not really. It was the 3.5% to 5% interest rate to 27%, the banks performed forcing many officers to lose their homes. I also got word that now many of the captains are telling their officers that the officer should be happy that they have a job.
And now, the chicken comes home to roost as whistleblowers from BofA are coming out of the woodwork and report felonies; that the mayor's office refuse to investigate is violating: 18USC§4 or Misprision of Felony.
The beginning of the blog reads: Should Know or Should Have Known. I am not an officer. But I know and it's safe to assume that every LAPD command staff member knows. But by ignoring this fact and not enforcing the laws they have sworn to protect and to serve, the commanders are committing felonies. Commanders from the Rampart corruption, Central racism and Rodney King would only continue to mar the name of the City of Los Angeles as they are not brought to justice. So unless change begins, and there is a revolution within, officers will always be the pawn of the command staff and our tax money will be wasted and at the same time, destroy the foundation that is "...to protect and to serve." Why? Because they "should know or should have known."
