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LAPD gets mixed review in police commission report

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“LAPD presently engages in no systematic, proactive effort to identify whether biased policing is a problem or to identify and correct the behavior of individual officers who show significant racial disparities in their stops and post-stop actions.” –Jessica Price, on behalf of the ACLU of Southern California

In the decade-plus interval since the corruption scandal in the LAPD’s Rampart Division, the airing of the Rodney King video and the subsequent uprising in its aftermath, along with all the other assorted transgressions, the department has remained the focal point of nationwide media scrutiny. Tuesday, an 87-page report released by the civilian Police Commission assessed the latest attempts to keep the force on the straight and narrow.

Officially titled the “Supplemental Review of Biased Policing Complaint Investigations,” the report acknowledged that improvements were made in handling complaints of police bias (also known as racial profiling), but expressed concerns about the treatment of citizens who make complaints and the thoroughness of investigations of officers who are the subjects of the grievances.

Locally, allegations have been leveled at law enforcement for targeting people of color–particularly African-Americans and Hispanics–for routine traffic violations, or simply driving in predominately Caucasian neighborhoods. To address these assertions, a special Constitutional Policing Unit was inaugurated under the LAPD’s internal affairs group during the past year.

In its conclusions, the report noted that officers were themselves confused about current regulations, especially those involving expired and suspended licenses, as well as the impounding of vehicles. Other issues that emerged included the appropriateness of vehicle searches and bodily “pat-downs.”

Current Eighth District Councilman and former Police Chief C. Bernard Parks gave this appraisal:
“While, biased policing complaints are extremely difficult to prove, the LAPD, the Police Commission and the city of Los Angeles should be very sensitive to the Justice Department’s warning, while under the consent decree,” Councilmember Parks said. “I have full confidence in Chief Charlie Beck and his ability to implement the required reforms…”

Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) founder and co-director Pete White remains unimpressed “The city and the police have yet to take a serious step in ending racial profiling in communities of color. Simply changing the term racial profiling into biased policing does little to end the on-going practice.

The report may be seen in its entirety by accessing LAPDonline.com.

Aside from oversight by the civilian commission, the police labor under the continued monitoring of the Department of Justice, although a consent decree originally mandated in 2001 ended in 2009.

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