The Los Angeles Police Department has been released from a long running decree after a federal judge decided the department had reformed significantly from prior corruption charges.Well, perhaps if people with certain skin colors would quit committing most of the crimes in Los Angeles they could start operating in the world of unicorns and rainbows as the ACLU would like them too. Unfortunately, the real world keeps interfering in those plans.
The city was forced into the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice after the Rampart corruption scandal and brutality complaints.
The agreement, which aimed to improve the LAPD's policing standards, meant more than 100 reforms to the department, the tightening of internal checks on officers' conduct, improved training, increased oversight of the anti-gang unit at the center of the Rampart corruption scandal, and a ban on racial profiling.
The decree also required officers to submit to strict audits by an outside monitor who reported the results back to Judge Feess.
Under the new agreement, audits will still be conducted with the Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees the LAPD, taking over the monitor's duties of supervising reform improvement.
According to Judge Feess, the court will keep jurisdiction over the agreement, and if lawyers from the Department of Justice are unsatisfied with the commission's oversight, they are allowed to bring the department back before Feess.
The judge noted in his decision the LAPD's distinct turnaround from its "troubled" state following the Rampart gang-unit corruption scandal.
"In 2008, as noted by the Monitor," the judge stated, 'LAPD has become the national and international policing standard for activities that range from audits to handling of the mentally ill to many aspects of training to risk assessment of police officers and more.'
The American Civil Liberties Union, which argued for continuing the consent decree, criticized the decision.
"The department has made substantial progress under Chief Bratton, but there's still too much evidence that skin color makes a difference in who is stopped, questioned and arrested by the LAPD," remarked Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU of Southern California.
I'm glad to see the department off the federal leash. Say what you want about the way former Chief Gates handled the department, but when he was in the big chair the local gangbangers feared the cops. I don't think you can say that today.
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2 comments:
Chief Gates did a fantastic job of running the L.A. Police Department.
Gangs kept their distance from him and his department personnel and for good reason. Today, I feel sorry for those on the L.A.P.D., and I wonder how in the world they can even attract new employees to come join the force. It is a pretty sad day when some federal judge has the say over a cities police department.
and--our police were doing their jobs during the May demonstrations -was that 2 years ago?--and a judge came down against them...demotions - fines ---are they now supposed to second guess EVERYTHING they do..even to defending themselves?
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