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La Voz de Aztlan
Los Angeles, California
November 17, 2000
A Cop's Badge is Not a Shield of Impunity - Los(t) Angeles - A Cop's Badge is Not a Shield of Impunity!
A Los Angeles court convicted three corrupt cops this past Wednesday sending out a clear message to all dirty cops that "if you do the crime you will do the time!" The case is the result of the worst police corruption scandal in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department in which cops have engaged in bank robberies, drug dealing and the framing of innocent victims.
The watershed case in Los Angeles indicates that jurors are now becoming more and more skeptical of police not only here but also throughout the country. Dirty cops have lied and filed false arrest reports for decades resulting in the incarceration of countless victims, specially people of color, but this the first time that the judicial system worked to expose them. There was a time when jurors would automatically believe the worst of the dirty cops because of brainwashing resulting in thinking that all gang members where criminals. The L.A police scandal unveiled monstrous criminal activities by the police far more evil than any thing the cops were charging Latino gang youths of committing.
One principal problem with the LAPD has been the recruitment, selection and the training of police cadets. Over the years they have scrapped the bottom of the barrel for potential policemen. Most have no education and many are former military "gun-ho" personnel. Last month a police rookie shot a popular Hollywood actor at a Holloween party in an upscale section of Los Angeles. The cop shot through a window and killed the actor because he had a toy gun. These rookies have no brains and shoot to kill because of the Pavlovian training they receive at the Police Academy. The trainers are old racist white types that need to be replaced and the whole curriculum updated. Before they give a rookie a gun they should make sure he has the intelligence to use it properly. The city should not allow rookies to carry guns unless they have the minimum intelligence, education and training. Perhaps the rookies should be required to take a certain number of college or university courses in Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy and in Ethnic Studies before being issued a gun.
Another major problem here in Los Angeles is that the police have traditionally been utilized as occupation forces in minority communities and specially in Chicano and Mexican immigrant barrios. The white wealthy majority has turned their faces the other way when it comes to police criminal behavior because they perceive that the men in blue is a thin line protecting them from the non-white undesirables. Certain dirty cops have taken advantage of this political environment to do their dirty work and to benefit from their crimes. Until we become truly politically empowered and replace the puppet hispanic politicos with our representatives, we will be unable to reform the police department and we will continue to be victims of crooked law enforcement practices.
LOS(T) ANGELES: The Shameful LAPD and LAUSD Corruption Scandals
California Proposition 21 Will Incarcerate More Latino Children
The Hypocrisy of U.S. Immigration Policy
A DEAFENING SILENCE: Latino Elected Leaders and the LAPD Corruption Scandal
COCAINE: Los Angeles Police and the City Hall Connection
LAPD CORRUPTION: Who Killed Officer Cuesta?
When Law Enforcement Becomes Criminal
Vigilantism at the US/Mexico Border May Spread Northward
Los(t) Angeles and the Democratic Convention 2000: Suffering the Consequences of Sins
Other Articles by Hector Carreon
THE CORROSIVE INFLUENCE OF THE DOLLAR: The Shameful Trade in Mexican Baby Organs
Hector Carreon is the founder and editor of La Voz de Aztlan and resides in Whittier, California. He was born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and moved to Aztlan at the age of 5 years. Hector is a graduate in Civil Engineering from California State University at Long Beach where he was a founding member of the Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists (MAES). He served honorably for two year as a Vietnam-era soldier in the U.S Army's 2nd Armored Division and is a graduate of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund's Advanced Leadership Program. Hector Carreon can be contacted at La Voz de Aztlan
