Shorty's early summary of the Christopher Commission report

[shortylickens]

The Christopher Commission was formed immediately after the video of Rodney king surfaced in 1991. Eventually they came out with a report on police and race relations in Los Angeles, not long after the 92 riots. You can find the Christopher Commission Report all over the internet.


Chapters 1 - 4

The LAPD started collecting and analyzing data on use of force, racial discrimination, hiring practices, and civilian complaints at far back as 1980. They knew about a great many problems formally and also shared it with the city. They didnt start looking at how to correct such problems until well after the Rodney King incident of March 1991. They also knew most of the command staff had a habit of covering or ignoring problems during that time period. They made some small strides in the form of policy changes to hire more women and minorities between 1980 and 1991 (including homosexuals) but in practice they didn't increase recruiting as much as they had promised to. And those who were hired during that time period were treated very poorly.
They knew about serious violations of policy and law concerning use of force but did little or nothing to correct such officers, going so far as to ignore substantiated and unsubstantiated reports and giving said officers excellent evaluations and promotion recommendations.

As late as 1991, people applying to the Academy were being asked their sexual orientation. Homosexuals were told to provide at least one name and address of an intimate partner.

Chapters 1 thru 4 say a lot more than that, but you guys can read the whole thing yourselves if you like. My summary is simplified.

 

[Burpo]

Is this Politics & News, or American History?

The Christopher Commission on Tuesday issued a 228-page report on the activities of the Los Angeles Police Department. Here are excerpts:

CHAPTER ONE: THE KING BEATING Rarely has the work of an amateur photographer so captured the nation's attention as did the dramatic and disturbing scene recorded by George Holliday's video camera in the early morning of March 3, 1991--the morning Rodney G.

www.latimes.com

 

[shortylickens]

Chapt 5.
The police are viewed by residents as a threatening force. The police still have a 50's "siege mentality" in how they relate to residents. Changing to community policing can help, as limited attempts in the past have actually worked very well.

 

[shortylickens]

Chapter 6.
The commission acknowledges police work is frustrating, stressful, and frightening. In 1990, thorough psychological testing of police candidates weeded out 40 percent of applicants. The people who conduct background investigations are poorly trained and overworked. They focus on all the wrong things when looking at an applicant. There is a fear culture in the LAPD that isolates officers from the rest of the community. Working the job for many years changes their personality and how they respond to situations. Testing for applicants should focus less on the interview and more on past behavior as thats a much better indicator of future behavior. Supervisors should focus on detecting problems during field work.

 

[MrSquished]

Just look at most every other developed nations, they train their cops two years, plus some require any associates type degree.

Here is give a 21 year old with 6 months training a gun and a badge

 

[shortylickens]

Just look at most every other developed nations, they train their cops two years, plus some require any associates type degree.

Here is give a 21 year old with 6 months training a gun and a badge

thats nice but its not the problem.
if those countries spent two years teaching cops to be racist and bloodthirsty they would be racist and bloodthirsty.

I think you need to go peruse the report. Its all over the internet.

 

[MrSquished]

thats nice but its not the problem.
if those countries spent two years teaching cops to be racist and bloodthirsty they would be racist and bloodthirsty.

I think you need to go peruse the report. Its all over the internet.

agreed about teaching the right stuff 100%. Definitely if you teach garbage in you'll get garbage out. hell the longer you teach garbage in, the more you'll get garbage out probably.

I do think that besides just fixing the training messages themselves, there needs to be a lot more training, of the good kind.

 

[Leymenaide]

The United States no longer qualifies as a Democracy. One guess who will help make sure we don't get it back.

 

[shortylickens]

The United States no longer qualifies as a Democracy. One guess who will help make sure we don't get it back.

ok thats fascinating and insightful commentary right there but has nothing to do with this thread.

This thread is about the report of the commission started immediately after the Rodney King video of early 1991. Its about the LAPD and the city of Los Angeles and how they relate with each other.

Chapter 7.
Commander Bostic was asked to review training procedures and stated it was all substandard. All officers spend 6 months at the academy, one year on probation with a Training Officer (T.O.) and mandatory field and roll call training after their probation period. The commission wants more emphasis on verbal de-escalation. The Police Academy is considered to be excellent and world class. The academy has 960 hours of training. It includes 75 hours of human relations and crisis intervention, as well as 8 hours of cultural awareness. The SFPD has 40 hours of cultural awareness. The police academy has 95 hours of Spanish training, however, it is possible to graduate the academy without passing the class. The commission wants more and better training in use of force, including sending already hired officers back to the academy for continued training. Constant turnover of the Academy's commanding officer creates problems in the curriculum. Some instructors spend a great deal of time at the academy including those who have very limited field experience. This has led to regular use of "Forget everything you learned at the academy" by T.O.'s in the field. The academy is much less willing to let go of poorly performing recruits, which over the years has changed the graduation rate from 60 percent to 95 percent. The commission wants unqualified recruits to be let go, even in the middle of a recruitment drive.
A police officer is a composite of their T.O.'s. Many training officers perpetuate the siege mentality of the police versus civilians. They pass on confrontational attitudes like hostility and disrespect to the public. Training Officers need regular evaluations. Probationers need regular evaluations and discipline when they perform poorly. Commander Bostic stated roll call training is a disaster. In-service training is offered frequently but rarely attended. Cultural awareness and verbal skills should be integrated with the use of force training. Any officer with an excessive force complaint should be excluded from T.O. duty for a minimum of five years. T.O. applicants should pass a test on communication skills and policies regarding use of force and cultural sensitivity. The academy should develop a training program for officers in the field. Command accountability should be the primary focus of sergeants, lieutenants, and captains.

 

[MichaelMay]

ok thats fascinating and insightful commentary right there but has nothing to do with this thread.

This thread is about the report of the commission started immediately after the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. Its about the LAPD and the city of Los Angeles and how they relate with each other.

Chapter 7.
Commander Bostic was asked to review training procedures and stated it was all substandard. All officers spend 6 months at the academy, one year on probation with a Training Officer (T.O.) and mandatory field and roll call training after their probation period. The commission wants more emphasis on verbal de-escalation. The Police Academy is considered to be excellent and world class. The academy has 960 hours of training. It includes 75 hours of human relations and crisis intervention, as well as 8 hours of cultural awareness. The SFPD has 40 hours of cultural awareness. The police academy has 95 hours of Spanish training, however, it is possible to graduate the academy without passing the class. The commission wants more and better training in use of force, including sending already hired officers back to the academy for continued training. Constant turnover of the Academy's commanding officer creates problems in the curriculum. Some instructors spend a great deal of time at the academy including those who have very limited field experience. This has led to regular use of "Forget everything you learned at the academy" by T.O.'s in the field. The academy is much less willing to let go of poorly performing recruits, which over the years has changed the graduation rate from 60 percent to 95 percent. The commission wants unqualified recruits to be let go, even in the middle of a recruitment drive.
A police officer is a composite of their T.O.'s. Many training officers perpetuate the siege mentality of the police versus civilians. They pass on confrontational attitudes like hostility and disrespect to the public. Training Officers need regular evaluations. Probationers need regular evaluations and discipline when they perform poorly. Commander Bostic stated roll call training is a disaster. In-service training is offered frequently but rarely attended. Cultural awareness and verbal skills should be integrated with the use of force training. Any officer with an excessive force complaint should be excluded from T.O. duty for a minimum of five years. T.O. applicants should pass a test on communication skills and policies regarding use of force and cultural sensitivity. The academy should develop a training program for officers in the field. Command accountability should be the primary focus of sergeants, lieutenants, and captains.

6 months.... Yah, that explains that.

 

[shortylickens]

6 months.... Yah, that explains that.

No, it doesnt.
Go back and read the other posts in this thread.

 

[Moonbeam]

Chapters 1 thru 4 say a lot more than that, but you guys can read the whole thing yourselves if you like. My summary is simplified.

Good stuff. Might I suggest that what you describe is an increasing understanding of reality, that the ways we have approached social issues and policing in the past simply do not work. I am saying, I think, or wish to convey that if you look at want people are capable of understanding and the pace of how change the situation looks very depressing but if you look at how much more advanced the understanding presented is to how things are actually done and the fact that change is being attempted, it looks like in a positive direction. I think your conscious awareness is far more advanced that the culture around you and I am glad to see that.

 

[Leymenaide]

ok thats fascinating and insightful commentary right there but has nothing to do with this thread.

This thread is about the report of the commission started immediately after the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. Its about the LAPD and the city of Los Angeles and how they relate with each other.

Chapter 7.
Commander Bostic was asked to review training procedures and stated it was all substandard. All officers spend 6 months at the academy, one year on probation with a Training Officer (T.O.) and mandatory field and roll call training after their probation period. The commission wants more emphasis on verbal de-escalation. The Police Academy is considered to be excellent and world class. The academy has 960 hours of training. It includes 75 hours of human relations and crisis intervention, as well as 8 hours of cultural awareness. The SFPD has 40 hours of cultural awareness. The police academy has 95 hours of Spanish training, however, it is possible to graduate the academy without passing the class. The commission wants more and better training in use of force, including sending already hired officers back to the academy for continued training. Constant turnover of the Academy's commanding officer creates problems in the curriculum. Some instructors spend a great deal of time at the academy including those who have very limited field experience. This has led to regular use of "Forget everything you learned at the academy" by T.O.'s in the field. The academy is much less willing to let go of poorly performing recruits, which over the years has changed the graduation rate from 60 percent to 95 percent. The commission wants unqualified recruits to be let go, even in the middle of a recruitment drive.
A police officer is a composite of their T.O.'s. Many training officers perpetuate the siege mentality of the police versus civilians. They pass on confrontational attitudes like hostility and disrespect to the public. Training Officers need regular evaluations. Probationers need regular evaluations and discipline when they perform poorly. Commander Bostic stated roll call training is a disaster. In-service training is offered frequently but rarely attended. Cultural awareness and verbal skills should be integrated with the use of force training. Any officer with an excessive force complaint should be excluded from T.O. duty for a minimum of five years. T.O. applicants should pass a test on communication skills and policies regarding use of force and cultural sensitivity. The academy should develop a training program for officers in the field. Command accountability should be the primary focus of sergeants, lieutenants, and captains.

Lets put it another way. We live in an autocratic Police State where the police are free to kill poor black Entrepeneur's selling ciggies on a street corner or almost anyone else they feel like. In my personal experience they are the nice folks that supply the drugs that my students sell after school so they and their siblings have money for food. The police are the way they are because the Doner Class wants them that way. Remember the golden rule? Them that got the gold makes the rules.

 

[shortylickens]

CHAPTER 8:

Only complaints that are sustained (proven) against an officer are kept on record. Complaints with no resolution are not recorded even if there are many of them. Problem officers tend to spread their problems around the department when they are transferred with no corrective action, and problem training officers generally make new recruits into problem officers.
Rotating patrol officers to different divisions promotes a healthier perception of the police and increased community cooperation. Patrol is often seen as a dead end assignment, as more officers are promoted faster when they have experience outside patrol. All officers agree that patrol division functions better when it has experienced people in the field.

 

[shortylickens]

Chapter 9: Complaints and Discipline

"When an officer finally gets fed up and comes forward to speak the truth that will mark the end of his or her police career. The police profession will not tolerate it, and civilian authorities will close their eyes when the retaliatory machinery comes down on the officer."

- Former LAPD Officer Brenda Grinston. Los Angeles Times. July 2, 1991


Most of the discussion and antagonism during the commissions public hearings were directly related to how the LAPD handles citizen complaints against officers, especially excessive force. In only a four year period there were 3419 allegations of excessive force filed by the public (not other officers). Only 2 percent were sustained and the rest went to limbo. Study showed there were significant failures with regards to taking complaints and resolving them. Commission highly recommended the discipline system be restructured completely so it best serves the public.

Most complaints lodged against the officers, by civilians, thru the department, are handled in house and not by the Internal Affairs Division. Complaints thru the mayors office are typically handled by IAD. The vast majority of citizens are either unaware they can make complaints. Many try and are unable. A supervisor who fails to take a complaint and forward it has violated LAPD policy.

All complaints are supposed to be routed thru IAD. A captain decides whether the complaint will be investigated by the IAD or the charged officers division. As of 1990, IAD had investigated a small fraction of all excessive force complaints. After the Eula Love incident of 1979 all officer shootings are investigated by a specialized officer shooting team, separate from IAD. An officers past complaints or punishments is not used to determine guilt or innocence on a new complaints, but past behavior can be used to determine their punishment if found guilty.

A thorough study revealed many substantial problems with the current system of investigating and classifying complaints. Most witnesses or victims face hurdles trying to file a formal complaint. There were few Spanish speaking officers serving latino neighborhoods. Officers discouraged witnesses from filing complaints right away, some threatened defamation suits, or referrals to INS. Many were told the police station was not the place to file formal complaints. Division personnel also actively discouraged complaints from officers on other officers. Some were intimidated. In many files the witnesses were either not identified, or identified but never interviewed. In once instance an LAPD officer claims a CHP saw him beat a suspect and did not complain to him or to either department. On investigation the Commission found there was no such CHP officer.

In officer involved shootings there is always an investigation regardless of whether a civilian initiated a complaint. In all instances officers on the scene were interviewed as a group which gave them an opportunity to get their stories straight. Officer statements are never recorded until after they have a "pre-interview" which is only attended by fellow officers. After this pre-interview the officer in question is allowed to make a recorded statement to the shooting investigation board. The officers statement is frequently "compelled" or labelled as such, which means legally none of their statements can ever be used against them for criminal charges. This makes it almost impossible to pursue prosecution against the officer. The DA is never allowed to interview the officer OR witnesses until the LAPD has "finished" its internal investigation, which can take years. The Commission noted many other LEA's across the nation successfully conducted shooting investigations without these techniques and no legitimate reason exists for the LAPD to engage in these practices. The civilian who filed a complaint is often considered to be "interested" or "involved" and their testimony is not enough to warrant an investigation. "Unbiased" witnesses are rarely found or sought out. Police officers, including the accused and their partners, were often classified as independent, meaning their testimony held weight in determining whether to investigate a claim or discard it.


(lots more, chapter 9 is big and highlights many problems and suggests many solutions)

 

[sdifox]

Op is living proof time warp is real.

 

[shortylickens]

Chapter 10 deals with how badly the whole stucture is designed from the chain of command starting with the chief of police all the way down to patrol officers. As well as the Police Commission which was mostly part time civilians who were not motivated to track down problem officers and units.
Also, how everything needed to be completely restructured.

Chapter 11 is called Implementation, which was HOW to change all the items they enumerated before.



SO BASICALLY: The LAPD was not a complete mess in 1992, but it was a huge mess. And heres the issue I'm having: I cannot find any reports on how they followed up with all this. I know Daryl Gates retired and he did officially state there was room for improvement, but I dont think anyone even attempted to punish him. The general idea I'm getting is theres no point in singling anyone out because the whole system was broken from the start and its not really fair or reasonable or realistic to attack anyone, not even the real monsters of which there were plenty.

IF you find the report too long to read, theres an excellent film called Dark Blue which highlights all of these issues.
ALSO there is a documentary called LA 92 which briefly goes over the Los Angeles situation. I cannot find any books or documentaries showing the improvements to the LAPD in the 30 years since.
However there is an excellent film called End Of Watch and I recommend you all go find it on your favorite streaming service. Or pirate the fuckin thing what the fuck do I care anway.