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Race and the LAPD
I don't have a lot to say about this (I don't live in LA and don't know its politics well), but thought it was interesting enough to highlight:
The Los Angeles Police Commission forwarded to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday the names of three finalists to become the next police chief -- a list that contained no women or minorities, but sparked little initial criticism.
....In the not-so-distant past, when tensions between the LAPD and minority communities in the city ran high, the selection of three white men as finalists would almost certainly have set off intense criticism. On Tuesday, however, news of the decision was met generally with praise as officials and outsiders said reforms made under [Bill] Bratton had largely rendered racial and gender politics a moot point.
John Mack, the commission president and a prominent African American civil rights activist, said he was struck by how little attention was devoted to race and ethnicity when the panel held community meetings throughout the city seeking the public's guidance on a new chief, including in Watts, Crenshaw and the San Fernando Valley.
The day is young, and racial politics may yet rear its head, but if Bratton has really accomplished this it's a helluva lot more impressive than any of his other reforms.
You mean black people don't
You mean black people don't just want to see a black guy get the job, but a guy who will actually be effective? Color me shocked. After seeing this, I can't imagine how those evil conservatives can label the likes of Sharpton and Jackson as racists.
Bratton has really changed things
Remember, the Ramparts scandal took place when Parks (African-American) was the chief. Not that he was responsible for it, but the optics were bad.
Bratton has made serious efforts to get involved with the various communities and be responsive to their concerns (regarding both crime and police behavior). As someone who lives in Los Angeles, I must say that there is a definite sense that the police are more professional. Before Bratton, with Parks and Gates, it was a low-scale war in some neighborhoods.
Bratton was the first chief not promoted from within the ranks. Before Bratton, it was widely believed that LAPD would never get serious reform because of that history.
While Bratton has benefited from the general decline in crime nationwide (when he was in New York, and Los Angeles), he has embraced "smart" police practices which include using new technology to isolate and track crime. If, as it appears to be the case, the LAPD has been sufficiently reformed so that now promotion-from-within results in good candidates, he's accomplished something even greater than reducing crime or quelling race concerns.
not true
Willie Williams came from Philadelphia.
Yeah, I completely forgot about him
He really was forgettable.
This accomplishment vs. "other reforms"?
Kevin says: "if Bratton has really accomplished this it's a helluva lot more impressive than any of his other reforms."
The fallacy is of course that this accomplishment is somehow independent of his other reforms, rather than the result of them.
Bratton in NYC
I was very involved in police/community issues when Bratton was the chief of police in New York City and I was very impressed with him. I thought he was sincere in wanting to repair relations between the NYPD and local communities, especially minority communities. I also thought he had a smart attitude toward improving policing techniques, and in recognizing and crediting people under him who did good work, an important aspect of effective leadership.
Which probably explains why Rudy Giuliani couldn't stand him.
Appointing Bratton cost Mayor Hahn his job
Former LA Mayor Jim Hahn narrowly defeated Antonio Villaraigosa in 2001 by putting together a fragile black-Republican coalition against Villaraigosa's Latino-Jewish coalition.
But then he decided to appoint the top cop in America, Bratton, to be police chief, which meant not rehiring the black police chief, who was okay, but wasn't Bratton. This alienated blacks, who turned to Villaraigosa in 2005, costing Hahn his job.
So, no good deed goes unpunished.
Bratton was a standup guy in
Bratton was a standup guy in NYC, and widely respected.
He was responsible for many of the achievements that the King of the Shitbags, Rudy Giuliani took credit for, and blowhard Rudy ran him out of town out of vanity and envy.
When Giuliani finished his term, the Police Commish was Harold Safir, a Rudy crony and monumentally incompetent boob.