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| NEWS > 17 July 2006 |
Other related articles:
State Attorney unveils unit to
The Cook County state's attorney's office announced Thursday that it had established a special unit to review police shootings and other allegations of excessive force by officers, hoping to plug gaps in how prosecutors uncover and evaluate misconduct by police.
Acknowledging his office had missed evidence of wrongdoing turned up in easily obtainable sources such as lawsuits, State's Atty. Richard Devine said that the new unit would examine those civil suits and other sources for potential evidence of wrongdoing.
The announcement comes in the wake of a Tribune investigati... Read more
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New California Media - San Fra
17 July 2006
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Report: LAPD Ripe For Major Sc
LOS ANGELES — The Police Commission will hold a special meeting Thursday to discuss the findings of the Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel, which has found that, despite extensive reforms in the past seven years, the police department is at risk of reverting to crises similar to the Rampart scandal.
The six-member panel was headed by civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who said the LAPD remains at risk of additional police abuse, corruption and even more unrest in minority communities unless immediate action is taken to change the course of the department.
In particular, Rice said, the South Bureau, which encompasses most of South Los Angeles and abuts Rampart, is “hanging by a thread.”
“I would not be surprised if something were to blow there this summer,” she added.
She later seemed to soften her criticism of the department, saying: “They know it’s going to be a long, hot summer. They’re putting together a stabilization program. There are too many guns, not enough jobs, not enough recreational programs. We’ve been there before.”
LAPD Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger, a former head of the South Bureau division, called Rice’s statements about the department “tough.”
“I believe we have made significant strides in terms of community needs and the fact that the community has confidence in us, or more than they had in previous years,” Paysinger said.
“South L.A. for many years has had significant social, economic and educational challenges as well as crime. She makes a strong point and I would agree, we must pay attention to those issues that cause crime and lawlessness to spiral out of control.”
The solution, the reports reads, is abandoning what the panel labeled as “warrior policing” in favor of a more community-friendly, problem-solving alternative for a department that serves one of the most under-policed big cities in the nation.
The panel was appointed in 2003 by the Police Commission to examine the department’s response to allegations of widespread abuse by officers from the Rampart Division’s Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit, formed to crack down on street gangs.
The panel set out to provide a final accounting of what many characterized as the most serious police corruption scandals in recent American history.
Among the panel’s 28 recommendations, it said an outside group should investigate police abuse, and the size and independence of the Police Commission’s inspector general’s office should be expanded.
Although he said he had not read the 117-page report in its entirety, Police Commission Inspector General Andre Birotte Jr. applauded Rice for her “uncanny ability to distill the issues straight to the core.”
“I believe that’s what she’s done,” he said. “The challenge will be how the city and the police department react to that. I think [the report is] a positive thing. It is comprehensive and thorough.”
Councilman Bernard Parks, who was the LAPD’s chief during the Rampart scandal, criticized the report’s findings, and Rice in particular. He said the report’s recommendations are “theories,” added that the “problem-solving” model cited as a success by the panel has been used by the LAPD for decades.
The Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel of legal experts interviewed 270 witnesses including current and former police officers, civil rights leaders, defense attorneys and prosecutors, Rice said. “We need a whole new paradigm for public safety,” she said. “We need to change our entire approach to public safety. The police are beginning to do that. They need more resources, more officers.
“Officers are reporting changes in the works. But they’ve got to dig a bit deeper and the community has to dig deeper to change the dynamic between police in high-crime areas.”
Thursday’s Police Commission meeting will take place in the City Council Chambers from 4 to 6 p.m.
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