The LAPD got a noise complaint about a USC graduation party: Response: 70 officers and SWAT

[cali]

arrests made.

They got another noise complaint at approx the same time from another graduation party across the street. Those attending were told to stay inside in order to be safe while the police action against the other party took place.

The difference? At the party busted with force, the attendees were largely black and latino. At the one where students were treated respectfully, they were mostly white.

At a student/police meeting, police said there was no racism.


http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAPD-Launches-Probes-USC-Weekend-Party-Confrontation-206299471.html

The Los Angeles Police Department is under scrutiny again. This time it's for sending almost 80 officers to break up a college house party. Most of the party goers were African-American students from the University of Southern California.

USC senior Nate Howard organized the party the LAPD shut down. At a protest on campus Monday he condemned the response.

"Seventy-plus officers?" he said. "What else was going on at that time in the community that you needed to be at a party of students getting ready to graduate?"

Howard says LAPD sent officers in riot gear and a helicopter to break up his party after they received noise complaints. Students were handcuffed, detained, and six were arrested. Howard says it was a peaceful event: registered with campus police, student IDs checked at the door — no fights, no guns — just black college kids having fun.

<snip>

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/05/08/182175917/L-A-s-Police-Department-Faces-Allegations-Of-Racism

[leveymg]

1. The cops still think they're in Iraq or Afghanistan. Shelter in Place in Occupied LA.

They got another noise complaint at approx the same time from another graduation party across the street. Those attending were told to stay inside in order to be safe while the police action against the other party took place.

The difference? At the party busted with force, the attendees were largely black and latino. At the one where students were treated respectfully, they were mostly white.

[cali]

2. I don't think so. This is about the continued racism of the LAPD

[barbtries]

6. absolutely that's what it is.

apparently they're still in denial. the piece on NPR this morning was quite good. nobody's fooled when the LAPD says they weren't responding in a racist fashion.

[leveymg]

14. Both. But, nothing new as the legacy of Watts is still with us.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Good lord.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Be careful about complaining too much about this.

You'll get called an anarchist. If the LAPD can spare 80 officers and a helicopter to break up a college graduation party, maybe they have too many cops. There shouldn't be any crime in L.A. if they can afford to send a SWAT team to break up a party. Seriously, if I lived there I'd be telling my councilman and the mayor that they're spending too much on the police dept. if they have 80 cops sitting around and an extra helicopter just waiting to bust up a party.

[leftyohiolib]

7. you're paying too much in city taxes

[LuvNewcastle]

11. A lot of people are.

There's a lot of waste in city governments, and police departments can be as wasteful as anybody. Until recently we were letting cops take home their cars after their shifts were over. A lot of cities do that and most people don't think anything of it. Well, we had cops driving their cars all the time for their own private use and they were letting the city pick up the tab for all the gas they burned. Some of the cops didn't even have their own private vehicles. I'm a liberal guy. I want the city to do things for the citizens, good public transportation and all that. But I hate seeing money squandered.

[panzerfaust]

28. To me it seems highly probable that

having more police cars on the road likely makes the roads safer, and may well decrease the over-all crime rate.

Depends upon the jurisdiction as to what the officer's responsibility for the car is. In some, if they take it home, they are expected to pay for all off-duty gas and for keeping it washed. In others, the department pays for all fuel and maintenance.

I a rural area in which I lived for several decades, as cops, like doctors, were never really off-duty having officers drive their cars home made their response times in emergencies much faster.



Either way, I think the public is getting its money's worth from this practice.

[LuvNewcastle]

36. I can see how it could be a good setup for some areas,

but it didn't work out for us. Too many people were taking advantage of it and a lot of money was being wasted. Rural areas would probably have to do it the way you describe.

[uponit7771]

31. +1, after reading this I'd be up in arms about paying these people

[heaven05]

13. a

black college graduation party.

[LuvNewcastle]

18. Yes, but from what I've heard, that sort of thing is typical

behavior from the LAPD. You could send those cops to sensitivity training from now until doomsday, and they'll still be racists. I think the best way to stop their racist behavior is to tell them that if they keep bringing out the SWAT team and the helicopter to break up parties of black or latino people, the city is going to start laying off cops. If that many cops can show up to do that shit, there's obviously too many of them. I think they'll understand that language a lot better.

[sulphurdunn]

17. It's possible

that the cost was borne by a grant from Home Land Security. Even in the small rural town where I live, the local police have suddenly come by monster SUVs, and have become visible everywhere, handing out lots of traffic tickets. I know damn good and well the town didn't buy the new vehicles, nor is it paying the overtime to keep them on the street, handing out the tickets.

[LuvNewcastle]

21. That's a good possibility, but that opens up a whole different

can of worms. How many trillions have we spent on Homeland Security (and other agencies) and how much are they spending/wasting? HS was one of the biggest budget-busters to come out of 9/11, other than the wars, and what exactly are we getting for what we're spending? We hear little, if anything on that subject.

[arcane1]

25. They can get fed money for the war on (some) drugs, too

Bust enough people for possession and suddently they qualify for big bucks.

[LuvNewcastle]

37. It's all about the money.

[AZ Progressive]

20. LAPD doesn't have many police officers compared to the NYPD

LAPD has just over 10,023 police officers, compared to 34,450 for the NYPD and 12,244 for the Chicago Police Department (Chicago being a less populous city than L.A. by around a million people.)

[LuvNewcastle]

23. They still either have too many or they aren't putting them where

they need to be. They don't need 70-80 cops to tell people at a party to turn down the noise. Besides, does that include the cops in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the other communities in L.A.? I don't know why they do it that way, but some of those communities have their own police even though they're part of L.A. Plus, L.A. County has a sheriff's dept. It's kind of confusing.

[KurtNYC]

30. It includes Hollywood because Hollywood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles

Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Santa Monica are cities which have their own police forces. The Sunset Strip (between Hollywood and Bev Hills) is/was an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County and was patrolled by the LA Sheriffs Dept during its wildest days when it was home to much of the drugs, prostitution, Plato's Retreat swing club, and other vice in the county.

[LuvNewcastle]

33. Thanks for clarifying.

I've only been to L.A. once and most of what I know about the area comes from crime novels. I was always a little confused about city and county limits and different jurisdictions.

[The Straight Story]

5. Meanwhile, in Cleveland.... (nt)

[midnight]

8. Yikes..... College kids having fun....

[AnotherMcIntosh]

9. On the plus side, this took away cops from other locations where they might have been zapping people

for no good reason.

[kestrel91316]

10. Meanwhile, LAPD completely ignores noise complaints in my part of the San Fernando Valley.........

Ask me how I know.

[heaven05]

12. no surprise

what is wrong with goddamn americans when it comes to race. Just sick!!!!!!!

[AZ Progressive]

16. White men feel oppressed

White men think the minorities, especially blacks and latinos, are taking away their power and their country. They believe that America should stay white male controlled. Right Wing media also serves to feed the white male being oppressed idea.

When your group is the top group in power, you will always fear losing that power and top rank, especially when you have done bad things to your rivals and/or fear retribution.

[heaven05]

19. +1000

[uponit7771]

32. I can't relate to that feeling, I think that's why I feel so disconnected from the thought process..

[MrScorpio]

15. Yay, LAPD! They're the best! nt

[kyeshinka]

22. Best police money can buy

Thanks, LAPD, for making Moscow's notorious OMON force seem human.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. This was a classic "police riot"...

[R B Garr]

26. Riot gear is pretty common for that area right across from the Coliseum

I've been to college football games at the Coliseum right across the street from the USC campus where the USC team plays. It's a pretty common sight there to see LAPD in riot gear. One of the first times I saw it, it was a bit daunting, but that's around where the LA riots were after the Rodney King incident, so riot gear is pretty standard there.

Recently (maybe a year ago now?) there were two USC students shot to death in their car, and the university was facing a lawsuit about it, and I think they were stepping it up on LAPD to investigate some gang activity in the area. This might be one of those cases of overkill by the police, but I think they have also been pressured lately.

[Cali_Democrat]

27. It's no wonder Dorner went nuts as an LAPD officer

[backscatter712]

29. QUICK! Somebody post that pic of the cop with the milk jugs!

People are questioning the integrity of the police again!

[BainsBane]

34. Maybe they'd been watching the parties/ riots in Mpls

around the U of M a couple of years ago.

[Rex]

35. Is there ever a time the LAPD is NOT under scrutiny?

nt.

[Ikonoklast]

38. What, no tanks to go with the close air support?

They need more money if they can't field their own armored division.