LAPD Failed to Find Any Officers Guilty of Bias Policing Over Two Year Period
The Los Angeles Police Department elected not to uphold any of the 1,356 allegations of biased policing charges levied against officers over a two-year period commencing in 2012.
According to the LA Times, that eye-popping revelation has now moved the president of the Police Commission to call for a "deep-dive briefing" from LAPD brass members detailing how such investigations are regularly conducted.
"We need to take a look at it," said the panel's president, Matt Johnson, adding that such racial profiling allegations are among the most seriously explosive accusations that can be aimed at an officer.
"I don't think anybody believes that there are actually no incidents of biased policing," Johnson said. "The problem is we don't have an effective way of really adjudicating the issue."
Beyond echoing Johnson's sentiments, Commissioner Robert Saltzman added he finds the total lack of any substantiated allegations "quite troubling and disappointing."
He later added, "It strains credibility to suggest that ... there were zero instances of biased policing. It should not be surprising that there is diminished trust in the LAPD given these results."
Like many other police agencies, particularly in the larger cities, the LAPD has long wrestled with allegations of biased policing. The seemingly growing perception that some officers choose to stop people based on race or ethnicity has only exacerbated the problem and fueled the growing schism of distrust between officers and citizens in certain communities.
LAPD Commissioners now insist they hope the continued rollout of body cameras will make for more information and evidence to consider in adjudicating such instances and provide a greater measure of certainty in encounters that often become a case of "he said, she said."
"At the end of the day, I wish it was zero for zero. I wish there were no complaints," said Commissioner Steve Soboroff. "But every complaint has to be taken seriously."
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