Further Probe Sought For LAPD

The LAPD is far from being out of the woods of
the May Day rally. Several civil rights groups has
just called for further investigations. Just how and
why did things get so out of control for this supposed
elite group of trained officers? Thats one of the issues
the investigation will be looking into. Check out the
article below and ring in your opinion.


In a move with potentially serious consequences for the Los Angeles Police Department, several civil rights groups on Thursday asked a federal judge to investigate whether the department's use of force at a May Day rally violated a sweeping consent decree imposed in 2001. If U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess grants the request by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, and if the resulting investigation finds the department violated the consent decree in the MacArthur Park melee, the judge could expand the federal oversight, set to expire in 2009.

"The decree was set up to prevent exactly the kind of outbreak of violence that took place May 1," said Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney for the ACLU of Southern California.Rosenbaum said his group was seeking an inquiry by court-appointed monitor Michael Cherkasky to determine whether the decree should be expanded, including requiring extra police training in handling demonstrations. One member of the Police Commission said he saw no need for another investigation because both the LAPD and the commission's inspector general were conducting probes."Let the systems in place do the job, and then we can evaluate how they did,"

Commission Vice President Alan Skobin said.Others joining the ACLU in the court filing include the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Homeboy Industries and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.The motion asks Feess for an evaluation of consent decree compliance in light of the police action "in defiance of existing court orders and departmental protocol, and in dramatic repetition of the kinds of police behaviors the consent decree is designed to prevent."The decree grew from the Rampart scandal, in which officers in an elite gang-enforcement unit admitted beating, shooting and framing suspects. It required the LAPD to adopt reforms to prevent civil rights abuses.

The document was a settlement between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice to address concerns by federal attorneys that the LAPD had engaged in a pattern of brutality and corruption.The court filing Thursday questions whether the same "warrior culture" found in the since-disbanded anti-gang unit at Rampart exists in the Metropolitan Division, which broke up the May 1 rally.At least 50 civilians have complained to the department that they were mistreated by officers wielding batons and firing foam-rubber projectiles into the crowd after some people threw rocks and bottles at officers.





This Article Continues Here





Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/