May 10, 2007
LAPD: No good deed goes unpunished
Want to know what happens to smart, aggressive, courageous -- no, wait, make that heroic -- cops who police the streets of Los Angeles?
Well, they get citations for valor from Gov. Schwarzenegger. They also get investigated, Monday-morning quarterbacked and sanctioned by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners.
Which explains why more than 60 percent of officers with more than five-years' experience have quit the LAPD.
And it also explains the ongoing farce unfolding in the aftermath of the MacArthur Park illegal-immigation-rights riot.
Patterico has an infuriating account of the ordeal two officers endured after they confronted a violent gangster; good cops disciplined, driven into the welcoming arms of other cities by the craven, finger-in-the-wind "leadership" of Chief William Bratton.
The amazing subtext is the amount of power the criminal lobby has amassed, courtesy of the race pimps who dominate local politics in the City of Angels.
In L.A., the complaints and second-guessing create a paranoid ambiance that causes officers to prioritize political perceptions over capturing criminals — and even their own safety.
“I know a lot of cops who don’t carry batons,” said a South L.A. gang investigator who refused to be identified in print, fearing LAPD retribution. “They’d rather watch a crook run away than risk a fight,” he explained.
“Gangsters ask me why I don’t carry one and I say ‘I’m not gonna end up on YouTube. If you want to fight me, we’ll do it with fists.’”
It's a great essay, telling yet another important story the Los Angeles Times can't be bothered to publish; check it out.
Posted by Mike Lief at May 10, 2007 07:32 AM
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