You’d think LAPD would eventually get it, that acting like gang members with badges just means more multi-million dollar lawsuits and bad press.
But nope, the City of LA just had to pay out $32 million more in police brutality claims.
This video was probably one of the claims. It’s from a July 6, 2006 counter-protest in Hollywood where a LAPD officer clubbed two people lying on the sidewalk. It has gotten over 780,000 views on my YouTube account.
Tonight we were walking down the street in San Francisco. Two beat cops were there. Not strutting. Not glowering at the civilians. Not exuding menace. You could ask them a question – something I’d never have considered doing with LAPD officers when I lived in LA.
No doubt. The LAPD is, without doubt, the biggest, most powerful gang in the area.
I don’t understand why people tolerate such police abuse. Why not just shoot them?
LAPD can be cowboys. Hollywood Division is the worst. I have no idea why, it just is.
Cops elsewhere, while they can certainly kick ass when needed, just don’t have that Robocop aura of menace that LAPD has.
Part of it is because LAPD deliberately has less officers per capita than other big cities and virtually no beat cops. This was done originally to cut down graft (and costs) but had has the really adverse side effect of isolating police from the public.
Beat cops are a good idea. The neighborhood gets to know them, they get to know the neighborhood. But a disconnect happens when cops just ride around in cars and watch from helicopters as in LA