ACLU/SC Deplores Latest Incidents of Police Brutality
In response to incidents of police misconduct that came to light at the end of the year, the ACLU of Southern California stepped up with a call for accountability to the LAPD and a university campus police force.
Three videos, including two posted on the popular website YouTube, brought the events to public awareness. One exposed a 2005 encounter in which an LAPD officer sprayed a man who was handcuffed and sitting in the back of a police car. Another shows two officers restraining a man; one officer holding a knee on the man’s throat while punching him in the face several times. The man can be heard yelling for help, and saying he cannot breathe. The third video shows a UCLA student being shot with a Taser multiple times by campus police after he refused to show his university identification card in the school library.
In a letter to the LAPD, we demanded transparency and accountability: “In the wake of this alarming footage, the department has not rushed to address justified public concern. The public is entitled to know what conduct the LAPD thinks is acceptable.”
Ramona Ripston, ACLU/SC chief executive officer, said that police reform is critically needed.
“The ACLU has long advocated for increased police accountability in order to enhance public safety,” Ripston said. “The fact that these incidents only came to light after being posted on a popular website dramatically illustrates how far we are from that ideal, and that police reform still languishes.”
The department is years behind in implementing the TEAMS II computer system, something mandated by a federal consent decree activated in the wake of the Rampart police scandal. This early warning system would identify officers with problem records and cannot be delayed any longer. The public must have access to records of discipline imposed on officers, which present current California law keeps confidential.
DECEMBER 2006
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ACLU/SC Deplores Latest Incidents of Police Brutality
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