[vienna]

I think a fundamental part of the problem issue is this: in similar situations where the suspect in question is white, the immediate rush to use lethal force is far less than with black/minority suspects; I've seem several situations over the years where a white suspect was wrestled to the ground or even punched/batoned to achieve compliance/arrest and. in similar situations have observed LEOs immediately pull guns on non-white suspects; I recall a night a Black friend of mine, myself, and a few other friends were outside of a rock club when a sort of straight, clean-cut, middle class-looking white guy went full freakout and the LAPD showed up; the guy swung at the officers, knocked down a couple of the offices, threw various heavy objects at them and, finally grabbed a big piece of metal rod and advanced on them; the LAPD officers swarmed the guy and it took about about six of them to put him on the ground and handcuff him after which they stood him up and pushed him into a squad car; one of our friends, a fellow long hair like myself, made the comment, "if that had been one of us, they'd have beaten us bad before they put us in the car", to which my Black friend said, "Hell, if that had been me doing that, they'd have shot me the first time I swung at them"; he made a very good point...

A lot f it is down to the training and the leadership of the law enforcement officers; if they have leadership that tolerates bad conduct by field officer or, perhaps, even encourages it, you're going to have problems; and, if their training emphasizes quick/immediate resort to lethal force, then you're really going to have problems...

When I first moved to LA, about 5 or six months in I had a run in with a couple of plainclothes undercover LAPD officers who confronted me on the street at about 2:30 am without identifying themselves and, when one of them made a move on me, I pulled a knife I carried to defend myself against these strangers; one pulled out a flashlight and a badge and the other pulled out a gun and they ordered me to freeze (hey, it was 1970, they still said things like that); seeing the badge, and importantly, the gun, I complied; they did all the usual, the pat down, the pocket emptying, the ID check for wants and warrants, etc., and when they could find nothing ill in my background, they asked me what I was doing out at that hour and I told them the truth, I worked at a bank data center on the swing shift and I had forgotten something I need the next day in my desk, and, with bus not running after midnight, I was walking back to the center to get what I needed; they also asked me why I don't stop when they first approached me and I asked why they didn't identify themselves as LAPD when they accosted me; just before they cut me loose, one officer took my knife, folded back up, handed it to me asking why I was carrying it; I told him "Because you never know when some SOB is gonna come up on you on a dark street and accost you"; both officers shot me dark glances, turned, got back into their beat up pickup truck (LAPD sometimes use the odd vehicle for undercover) and drove away...

I told some of my coworkers about the incident and they were aghast and shocked; I told them I was just lucky I wasn't arrested; they said "Man, that's they LAPD, you're lucky you weren't shot!!"; they then began to explain to me the facts of life regarding dealing with the LAPD, at the time; it was sort of the non-Black version of "The Talk" Black kids get from their parents about dealing with LEOs...

I've known good cops and I've known bad cops, including one who was notorious official in the Hollywood Vice Squad, and I've got to say, overll I've seen more good than bad, but the bad do get all the headlines; 'it bleeds, it leads', as they say; the LAPD has really undergone remarkable changes for the better since the Old Guard leadership was swept away after they botched the response to the 1994 LA Riots, particularly after a really good GOP mayor who put problem-solving over politics took office and got NYPD's Bill Bratton to come in as LAPD Chief and clean house in the Department; its a lot harder for the marginal cops to get away with misconduct...




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