Patterico's Pontifications

1/30/2009

Two News Items from the LAPD

Filed under: Crime,Current Events — Jack Dunphy @ 3:25 pm



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

In two earlier posts (here and here) I discussed the harebrained decision by LAPD command officers to send cops without helmets and face shields into a Jan. 10 skirmish with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the West L.A. Federal Building. The wearing of helmets, the officers were told, was too “intimidating” for the delicate sensibilities of those who wish to see Israel eradicated. An officer was injured, though not seriously, when he was struck on the head with a protest sign. The responsible command officers have been trying to rehabilitate their credibility with the rank and file, so far with little success.

Now the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the labor union representing officers below the rank of captain, has filed a class-action grievance against the department, citing LAPD policy and various city and state laws regarding the use of protective equipment. (Full disclosure, but to no one’s surprise, I am a member of the LAPPL.) The grievance seeks to ensure that officers will not be needlessly exposed to such risks in the future.

And on Wednesday, the Los Angeles city council approved a $20.5 million settlement to be paid to four LAPD officers wrongfully, indeed shamefully, treated during the investigation of the department’s Rampart scandal. (I discussed the case at National Review Online here and here.) At last the officers will collect the monetary damages they so richly deserve, but to paraphrase Ray Donavan, where do they go to get their reputations back?

–Jack Dunphy

8 Responses to “Two News Items from the LAPD”

  1. i’d have to say that it’s likely they never lost their reputations amongst their peers and family who knew them, and among the public that knows a lynching when they see it.

    as for the braying curs of the media and the narod, what honorable person even notices that they are yapping? i, for one, only wish the approbation of my peers, and those leaders whom i admire. i will not sacrifice my beliefs or my honor for the illusive, faint and short lived praise of those who have neither.

    BTW: even though the money’s coming out of my pocket as a taxpayer, tell your fellow officers i said congratulations, and to spend my share on a bottle of fine single malt. %-)

    redc1c4 (9c4f4a)

  2. Too often there is a “click” that occurs in the internal mental processing equipment of an LEO who promotes to supervisory and/or command authority. Somehow a street-smart, effective crime fighter too oftern turns into a super-CYA machine that loses every bit of common sense and street cred built up over the years. Thus LAPD commanders sent troops into battle half dressed. Idiots. I’m ashamed of them. They do not represent the department I once knew.

    It’s almost as if they think they’re in London with the Metropolitan, except there the commanders learned that particular lesson eight years ago.

    Bill Gannon (0fe041)

  3. Not so long ago the London Metropolitan Police Force was re=named Police Service as the word “force” was deemed too oppressive. The relentless PC creep…

    Gazzer (271d32)

  4. For once, I’m rooting for a union to kick some serious ass. Those supervisors need to be done in the LAPD, preferably with a partial or total loss of benefits.

    M. Scott Eiland (5ccff0)

  5. Coincidentally, saw today where the brand new Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Sir Paul Stephenson renamed it a “force”, not a “service”. Back to basics, he says. They could stand a bit of that, but I do like the hi-viz jackets.

    Bill Gannon (0fe041)

  6. Worth noting, in light of the post above this, Jack: The Dog Trainer headline for the Rampart Officers’ award story was: “City Council Approves $20 Million to Settle Final Rampart Suits” (or close enough). The passing reader might very well have assumed the settlements in question were to those who were released from prison on Rafael Perez’s say-so.

    But, no, this huge settlement, — about one quarter of all the Rampart settlement money — went to cops who were wrongly accused in the ensuing witch hunt.

    Equally of note, is this quote from Council Presidnet Eric Garcetti: It’s clear within the department — not only with guilty cops, but with innocent cops — that the department reacted extremely badly.”

    I challenge anyone in this town to find a scintilla of evidence that the City or the LAPD (or the Dog Trainer) has taken steps to protect innocent cops.

    Robert C. J. Parry (50a453)

  7. Each officer will receive about $5 million dollars from this settlement, correct?

    After paying the attorneys & taxes, how much will be left?

    I’m afraid that their final payment won’t come near to compensating them or their families for what they went through.

    Susan (488d87)

  8. I think that it is time for Muslims in the US to learn that you cannot march through the streets advocating and demanding the death of others, even if they are Jews.

    I do not understand how liberals can ignore/spin/agree with these Muslim protests.

    Jack (d9cbc5)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0850 secs.