LAPD Professionalism

In looking at Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) history with using excessive force, there needs to be a way that hold these police officers accountable to prevent citizen-police tension and create transparency for the public. During the 1990s, 61% of police officers from the LAPD were white and considered aggressive with African American communities which suggest racial tension among the two groups (Suburbanstats, 2017). Eula Love and Rodney King are two victims of

Policemen are supposed to “serve and protect.” Lately that motto has lost its significance and meaning. The public and the news media no longer respect the occupation. Policemen nowadays are accused of not doing their jobs properly and instead of serving their communities, outright ignore or harm ordinary civilians. Terms like “police brutality” have become rather popular and there appears to be no shortage of new articles scrutinizing the police. This paper will focus on the soured relation between Houstonians and the Houston Police Department (HPD). Of interest is the reasoning behind why a good chunk of Houston’s denizens despise HPD officers. Thus, this paper will take a closer look at some of the questionable actions committed by HPD’s

The history of Mexicans in Los Angeles is a long one. The city itself was founded in 1781, by Spaniards and mixed race Latinos. As time went on, Latinos faced more and more discrimination. Certain events stand out in California’s Latino history. In the forties, Caucasian sailors would beat up Latinos who wore “Zoot Suits”, or baggy clothes, and the police let the Caucasians do it with no consequences.

Chapter 4 in The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America, was about the relations between society and law enforcement officers. This has been a major topic, especially in the United States for a long time. The unfortunate statistic that minorities are more likely to encounter being killed, arrested, and victimized by excessive physical force; has been a real issue even in today’s society. However, police departments are trying to combat the way police officers interact with the community; especially those of color. Although steps have been takes there are still some instances where police aggression happens. With all of the issues that arise between certain minority populated community’s police it is evident that conflict

“Hispanics were also just as likely as blacks to believe that the treatment they receive from police is definitely prejudiced and unfriendly. In October 1994, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Francisco Renteria was escorting his mother home from a Laundromat when he was accosted by University of Nebraska police dispatched to investigate a crime. Mistaking Renteria for the suspect, they fatally beat him

Throughout the last one hundred and fifty years, there has been a history of tension and conflict between the police and minority communities in the United States. In principle, the police exist to enforce the law and protect all citizens regardless of race or ethnic background, yet police departments across the country have been repeatedly accused of targeting and harassing racial minorities, and of failing to root out racist attitudes and practices within their ranks. In recent years, high profile cases such as the beating of Rodney King in Los Angles and the assault on Abner Louima in New York have only served to heighten concerns over the mistreatment of minorities by the police, resulting in widespread calls for major legal and institutional reforms. The recent shootings of Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Eric Garner, and Terrance Crutcher underscore the danger Black men and boys face when they cross paths with law enforcement officers. In the absence of a coordinated national strategy, state and local police departments have largely been left to develop their own solutions to the problems of policing minority communities and improving cultural sensitivity amongst their officers. Many departments have sought to reform recruitment and selection policies in the hope of attracting greater numbers of minority applicants, while others have instituted diversity training and education programs aimed at improving police understanding of minority cultures and communities. To date, however, these efforts have yielded mixed results. Some departments have achieved notable successes, but on the whole, relations between the police and minority communities across the country remain strained. of cultural diversity and the police.

Another factor in conflicts with this nation’s police force is the differences in races between American neighborhoods and their police force. In order to reduce the presence of racism in law enforcement, the race and ethnicities of the police force must be representative of the population they are responsible

Police legitimacy is composed of two elements: trust and acceptance of authority. The public needs to know they can trust the police officers. We have to know if they are honest and are really concerned with our well-being, which would lead to respect and accepting their directives knowing it is for our own well-being or the neighborhood’s. I personally experience both sides of this concept, due to my residential situation, as I live both in El Paso and Juarez. In El Paso I truly trust the police officers that I have encountered, but I cannot say the same about the Juarez police officers. In Juarez many police officers are corrupt and do not care about our well-being. I’m not saying that in El Paso they all do, but their authority is more accepted by its community.

Los Angeles witnessed a high amount of drug incidents and violence, which arose from the increasing drug problem. Unfortunately as the same time the nation witnessed a rise in the drug problem, it also saw a rise in police brutality. Throughout Los Angles and America there were many cases of police beatings, but there wasn’t any case that received as much attention and media coverage as the Rodney King incident. On the night of the Rodney King beating, “amateur video camera enthusiast, George Holliday, shot footage of LAPD officers beating a twenty-five year old African-American man following a traffic stop” (Alpert p.131). The question raised is why did something like this incident happen? In order to answer the question, a review of the police department is necessary. At the time of the Rodney King beating Daryl Gates had been the police chief of Los Angles for thirteen years. Chief Gates had power over the departments’ policies and personnel, and “his position was well insulated by unique civil service protections” (Alpert p.134). Chief Gates was recognized as someone who was professional and innovative on new ideas to enforce the law. He adopted militaristic technology as equipment to use in the streets. One example of the new technology was the motorized police battering rams, which were essentially tanks

We urge that the leadership of the LAPD go beyond rhetoric in carrying out its existing policies against excessive force. From the Chief of Police down to the sergeants, this means taking a firm stand against the "bad guys" on the force and employing all the instruments available training, discipline, assignments, and promotion... We recommend a new standard of accountability (1991, xiii-xiv)

During this decade of much turmoil, the policing were seen as brutal and racist. To improve this image of the police at this time, the department as a whole started changing its practices (“Policing the Social Crises of the 1960s”, n.d.).

Historically there has been conflict between the american police force and members of minority groups. In recent years this conflict has moved into the eye of the public, through the media attention given to events like Ferguson. Outrage and unrest ensued and the backlash from these events were felt all over the US if not internationally. The result of these events lead to politicians and the police pledging reforms to improve the relations between law enforcement and members of minority groups. However many still believe that nothing has changed and that law enforcement is still more likely to use excessive force when dealing with members of those minority groups. Research has started to be conducted on this issue and many try to find solutions. This paper will provide a literary review of the current literature regarding this topic and will further provide some ways in which the relationship between law enforcement and the public can be improved.

This article is explaining how the misconduct of police is different big cities like New York City and Los Angeles. It also brought up when a police shooting happens, what do other races think of the police, with that being said, this is also talking about 2 shootings of Patrick dorismond in New York and Amadou Diall, the author tracks public attitudes toward the police before and after each incident, and they also examine the similarities and the opinions of whites, blacks, and Mexican. For example, they were a few police shootings that happened in the 90s, first was the Rodney King beating which was caught on video tape, but no convictions also numerous police scandal that was reported from 1999 to 2000 in the Los Angeles police department. After each incident the most impactful one was the Rodney King beating of African Americans, which after that the trust in police went down drastically because of that image that was seen worldwide. This article is relevant to my research because it talks about police brutality and cases that has happened over the years, this also gives actual statatics about how many African Americans and Mexicans are more likely to be encountered a police brutality.

Race and oppression are some of the contributing factors, and seem to be common threads in many violent encounters between rioters and police. There are several similarities between the Los Angeles and Baltimore riots. Communities and law enforcement organizations must analyze the root cause and improve relationships before, during, and after these encounters. Law enforcement leaders must take initiative to successfully handle the crisis and anticipate the community’s expectations to the desired response.

Hispanic Americans suffered similar fate as African- Americans in racial profiling. The media portrayed them as part of gangs and selling drugs. This group is more likely to have a strong group identity and view the police officers as “gringos” or foreigners (Aguiree , 2004). They already look at the police officers with negativity due to increased activities of deporting illegal occupiers (Davis & Hendricks, 2007). The police officers may be influenced to believe that this group is at higher risk of breaking laws and do not understand Hispanic Americans’ culture.