Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 57 |
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Nichols and others have alleged
that some demonstrators simply
tako muscle relaxants lo Increase
Iholr toloranco—a charge an Operation Resciio spokoswoman called
"100% Incorrect."
In olthor caso, the results aro
dangerous, said McKlnley. "I'm no
doctor. Hut pain has a purpose. It's
tolling you to stop doing what
you're doing. |f you don't respond
lo psln, and It Is applied wllh more
forco, Injuries aro possible."
In fact, Injuries havo boon
mounting oyer, since police and
*>pcte,i»o*i Krwut 'protesters
*>4J*m4 of! at the l*W Drsrtc*Taitr
txjmi+MMun an Atlanta At Opera-
uc*» rursrur budl momwvtun^ rn-
t*f*ne. m n»U duob*d*«»re at
flaws around the country, the
attrgauona of poure brutality tn-
• In Saa Dtrgo. an officer report -
ediv fHffree through tr*e> demon-
uratars amaru-*. "Don't try lo un -
Ormand em. just round em up and
brand 'era "
• In Putaburgh. women claimed
they were aexuaily molested by
officers
• In West Hartford. Conn, officers removed their badges and
name lags-purportedly to avoid
rutting demonstrators—and then
allegedly hauled protesters away
with corne-aton* holds, by lifting
them with sharp-edged plastic
handcuffs, or with "crotch carries"
in which a night stick is stuck
between the protester's legs. A
priest testified thai the police
•rrmed to enjoy inflicting pain.
The demonic element entered In
here"
A woman arrested this year in
lx» Angeles said "By Ihe time
they got my arms all the way back
the pain was so intense I was just
•creaming. . . 'Jesus! Jesus!' "
In demonstrations in those cities
and others, including Boston. Atlanta and Denver, protesters alleged that officers continued lo
appjM come -along holds afler demonstrators had complied with their
commands, administering pain as a
form of "curbside justice."
Implicit in the protesters' complaints ut a sense that they have
been betrayed by kindred spirits.
"It wasn't at all like the old
anti-war demonstrations where
people were calling Ihe police pigs,
being belligerent." said Dan Bruno,
an accountant for the city of Orange, whose right wrist was broken at s March 25 Los Angeles
demonstration. "Frankly. I lead a
very middle-class life. I've never
been roughed up like lhat before.
Maybe I just got s little insight into
what il was like to be a black
demonstrating for civil rights."
Operation Rescue has not gone
limp after its encounters with police. Rather, leaders began an aggressive letter-writing campaign.
encouraging those who felt they
had been abused and people who
saw videotapes of the abuse lo file
complaints against the officers, and
write lo their senators, congressmen, the Department of Justice,
and the Uii. Commission on Civil
Rights. A group called Pro-Life
Police was formed, and a member
testified that he had witnessed
"real atrocities" by the LAPD.
But others said the LAPD had
behaved with restrainL For example, feminist lawyer Gloria Allied.
never hesitant to criticise official
souses, said she believes police
acted with professionalism last
March. Issuing fair warnings snd
acting only slier demonstrators
failed to comply.
"I cant have much sympathy for
them.Tshe said of the anli-abor-
ition "rescuers," as she stood among
a vociferous group of pro-choice
"clinic defenders'* at a Dec. 9
denmnstrstion and counterdemon-
stratlon In Fullerton. The pain
inflicted on women's lives by Operation Rescue people is enormous.
What thef arWaulYering tn paln-
complisnce is a drop In the ocean
in exercising our constitutional
rights."
At demonstrations, throngs of
pro-choice demonstrators, some of
whom might well have been on the
wrong end of night slicks in another era, watched the police twist
protesters' arms and chanted:
"L.A. blue, we're with you."
Chief Gales, an outspoken conservative, does not bask in ihis
new-found support. "I fell like the
people in the stands were cheering
as we threw the Christians lo the
lions," he said.
In fact, the emotional volatility
of the abortion issue has shaken
the way many think in the debate
over police uses of force.
Village Voice columnist; Nat
Hentoff has skewered liberal civil
libertarians for letting their Ideology stop them from supporting antl-
■ NEW USC FOR OLO TOOL
An ancient Asian farm tool has
become a cutting edge weapon
for many police officers in
Southern California. El.
abortion protesters' fight to restrain what he calls "the torture
police." He also has charged that
his media colleagues have turned
their backs on the uncomfortably
complex issue.
William B. Allen, a controversial
Ronald Reagan appointee to the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,
has similar views: "We like lo
value tolerance. But you never
know how tolerant you are until
you're challenged on something
you care about. This issue has
touched some very raw nerves,
and we find we're not as tolerant as
we pretend to be."
At s commission briefing on
police brutality charges, organized
by Allen in September, Robert
McCue. chief of the West Hartford
police, defended his officers.
"I have never heard of training
that consists of,using stretchers for
one class of prisoner snd come-
along holds for others based on the
motivation of a crime," he said
"All I want my officers to think of
at the time that they're taking
somebody Into custody is the resistance to the arrest. I don't want
them concerned with abortions.
nuclear freezes, saving the whales
or whatever."'" ■■,
^SXI«^^»^M^commtas»on
md ronarr*ali»e lawmakers were
>«n>i.| Sen Armstrtmf tn lashing
out aa-*iri»i put** P*'n compliance
Ukucs And pushup translation lu
restrain them
Rep Robert Dornan (H-Cardrn
Grove > reed into the Congreasional
Record a column by William K.
Buckley Jr. comparing the West
Hartford demorutrauona lo civil
nghu demonstrations in Alabama
three decades ago "It u hard to
bei*ve thai Bull Connor, direcung
white redneck policemen, caused
more brutality in Ihe treatment of
blacks than wu~ caused by the
police of West Hartford in their
treatment a( members of Operation
Rescue"
An amendment introduced by
conservative lawmakers in the
House and Senate, and tagged onto
a HUD bill laier signed by the
President, states lhat no Community Planning and Development
grants may be paid "to any municipality lhat fails lo adopt and enforce a policy prohibiting the use of
ru-esalve forco by law enforce
ment agencies within the Jurisdiction of said municipality against
any individuals engaged in nonviolent civil rights demonstrations."
Los Angeles received almost $66
million in such grants in fiscal year
1989.
'This is what the Democrats
used to do all ihe tune, blackmailing cities into doing what the
federal government wants it to
do," said Gates. "Now we've got
Republicans doing it."
The Justice Department already
investigates charges of police
abuse, Gates pointed out. But if this
"horrendous" new measure has its
intended effect, eliminating the use
of painful control techniques in
nonviolent demonstralions, his department may have no choice but
to watch as demonstrators of any.
stripe take over any facility they
choose, he said.
Carol Sobel, staff attorney for
the Los Angeles Chapter of the
ACLU, shares Gates' assessment
lhat the government acted in this
case because conservative lawmakers were sympathetic to the
ami -abortion cause.
But, unlike Gates, she believes
that using pain-compliance against
any nonviolent demonstrator is
often "barbaric," and she supports
restraints on the police.
Sobel was "amused" at how
quickly lawmakers addressed complaints of police brutality that, she
said, have been raised for years by
protesters against U.S. policy in El
Salvador by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party and
other groups generally viewed less
sympathetically by conservatives.
Still, she believes the new measure will help assure "that the cost
of demonstrating in this tows
doesn't escalate. I just hope conservatives remember that it Includes
everyone."
Object Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991 |
| Description | Newspaper clippings (Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Daily News, New York Times, Sentinel) and magazine articles (U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek) documenting Los Angeles Police Department misconduct under Chief Daryl F. Gates, 1978-1991, compiled by Irving Kessler and Lynn F. Kessler. Includes: Introduction, Contents, Excessive force, Rodney King, Mexican nationality, Civil rights, Property, Silence, Discrimination, Accountability, Gates intolerance, Recommendations. PART OF A SERIES: Materials in the series fall into one of several categories related to the Independent Commission's work product: (1) Commission meeting materials, which include meeting agendas, work plans, memoranda, and articles about police misconduct that were circulated and reviewed during the Commission's internal meetings; (2) public correspondence, which includes citizen complaints against the LAPD in the form of written testimony, articles, and an audio cassette tape, as well as letters drafted by citizens in support of the LAPD; (3) summaries of interviews held with LAPD officers regarding Departmental procedures and relations; (4) public meeting materials, which include transcripts, supplementary documents, and witness statements that were reviewed at the Commission's public meetings; (5) press releases related to the formation and work product of the Commission; and (6) miscellaneous materials reviewed by the Commission during its study, including LAPD personnel and training manuals, a memorandum of understanding, and messages from the LAPD's Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT) system. |
| Coverage date | 1978/1991 |
| Creator |
Kessler, Irving, compiler Kessler, Lynn F., compiler |
| Publisher (of the original version) | Los Angeles Times; L.A. Weekly; U.S. News & World Report; Los Angeles Daily News; New York Times; Newsweek; Sentinel |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California, USA; Washington, DC, USA; New York, New York, USA |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
| Date created | 1991 |
| Date issued | 1978/1991 |
| Type |
texts images |
| Format | 368 p. |
| Format (aat) |
clippings (information artifacts) articles summaries |
| Format (imt) | application/pdf |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991 |
| Series | Independent Commission File List |
| File | Complaints, suggestions, and support |
| Box and folder | box 23, folders 7-9 |
| Provenance | The collection was given to the University of Southern California on July 31, 1991. |
| Rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Repository name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
| Repository address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
| Repository email | specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | indep-box23-07_09 |
Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 57 |
| Format (imt) | image/tiff |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | Nichols and others have alleged that some demonstrators simply tako muscle relaxants lo Increase Iholr toloranco—a charge an Operation Resciio spokoswoman called "100% Incorrect." In olthor caso, the results aro dangerous, said McKlnley. "I'm no doctor. Hut pain has a purpose. It's tolling you to stop doing what you're doing. |f you don't respond lo psln, and It Is applied wllh more forco, Injuries aro possible." In fact, Injuries havo boon mounting oyer, since police and *>pcte,i»o*i Krwut 'protesters *>4J*m4 of! at the l*W Drsrtc*Taitr txjmi+MMun an Atlanta At Opera- uc*» rursrur budl momwvtun^ rn- t*f*ne. m n»U duob*d*«»re at flaws around the country, the attrgauona of poure brutality tn- • In Saa Dtrgo. an officer report - ediv fHffree through tr*e> demon- uratars amaru-*. "Don't try lo un - Ormand em. just round em up and brand 'era " • In Putaburgh. women claimed they were aexuaily molested by officers • In West Hartford. Conn, officers removed their badges and name lags-purportedly to avoid rutting demonstrators—and then allegedly hauled protesters away with corne-aton* holds, by lifting them with sharp-edged plastic handcuffs, or with "crotch carries" in which a night stick is stuck between the protester's legs. A priest testified thai the police •rrmed to enjoy inflicting pain. The demonic element entered In here" A woman arrested this year in lx» Angeles said "By Ihe time they got my arms all the way back the pain was so intense I was just •creaming. . . 'Jesus! Jesus!' " In demonstrations in those cities and others, including Boston. Atlanta and Denver, protesters alleged that officers continued lo appjM come -along holds afler demonstrators had complied with their commands, administering pain as a form of "curbside justice." Implicit in the protesters' complaints ut a sense that they have been betrayed by kindred spirits. "It wasn't at all like the old anti-war demonstrations where people were calling Ihe police pigs, being belligerent." said Dan Bruno, an accountant for the city of Orange, whose right wrist was broken at s March 25 Los Angeles demonstration. "Frankly. I lead a very middle-class life. I've never been roughed up like lhat before. Maybe I just got s little insight into what il was like to be a black demonstrating for civil rights." Operation Rescue has not gone limp after its encounters with police. Rather, leaders began an aggressive letter-writing campaign. encouraging those who felt they had been abused and people who saw videotapes of the abuse lo file complaints against the officers, and write lo their senators, congressmen, the Department of Justice, and the Uii. Commission on Civil Rights. A group called Pro-Life Police was formed, and a member testified that he had witnessed "real atrocities" by the LAPD. But others said the LAPD had behaved with restrainL For example, feminist lawyer Gloria Allied. never hesitant to criticise official souses, said she believes police acted with professionalism last March. Issuing fair warnings snd acting only slier demonstrators failed to comply. "I cant have much sympathy for them.Tshe said of the anli-abor- ition "rescuers," as she stood among a vociferous group of pro-choice "clinic defenders'* at a Dec. 9 denmnstrstion and counterdemon- stratlon In Fullerton. The pain inflicted on women's lives by Operation Rescue people is enormous. What thef arWaulYering tn paln- complisnce is a drop In the ocean in exercising our constitutional rights." At demonstrations, throngs of pro-choice demonstrators, some of whom might well have been on the wrong end of night slicks in another era, watched the police twist protesters' arms and chanted: "L.A. blue, we're with you." Chief Gales, an outspoken conservative, does not bask in ihis new-found support. "I fell like the people in the stands were cheering as we threw the Christians lo the lions," he said. In fact, the emotional volatility of the abortion issue has shaken the way many think in the debate over police uses of force. Village Voice columnist; Nat Hentoff has skewered liberal civil libertarians for letting their Ideology stop them from supporting antl- ■ NEW USC FOR OLO TOOL An ancient Asian farm tool has become a cutting edge weapon for many police officers in Southern California. El. abortion protesters' fight to restrain what he calls "the torture police." He also has charged that his media colleagues have turned their backs on the uncomfortably complex issue. William B. Allen, a controversial Ronald Reagan appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, has similar views: "We like lo value tolerance. But you never know how tolerant you are until you're challenged on something you care about. This issue has touched some very raw nerves, and we find we're not as tolerant as we pretend to be." At s commission briefing on police brutality charges, organized by Allen in September, Robert McCue. chief of the West Hartford police, defended his officers. "I have never heard of training that consists of,using stretchers for one class of prisoner snd come- along holds for others based on the motivation of a crime," he said "All I want my officers to think of at the time that they're taking somebody Into custody is the resistance to the arrest. I don't want them concerned with abortions. nuclear freezes, saving the whales or whatever."'" ■■, ^SXI«^^»^M^commtas»on md ronarr*ali»e lawmakers were >«n>i.| Sen Armstrtmf tn lashing out aa-*iri»i put** P*'n compliance Ukucs And pushup translation lu restrain them Rep Robert Dornan (H-Cardrn Grove > reed into the Congreasional Record a column by William K. Buckley Jr. comparing the West Hartford demorutrauona lo civil nghu demonstrations in Alabama three decades ago "It u hard to bei*ve thai Bull Connor, direcung white redneck policemen, caused more brutality in Ihe treatment of blacks than wu~ caused by the police of West Hartford in their treatment a( members of Operation Rescue" An amendment introduced by conservative lawmakers in the House and Senate, and tagged onto a HUD bill laier signed by the President, states lhat no Community Planning and Development grants may be paid "to any municipality lhat fails lo adopt and enforce a policy prohibiting the use of ru-esalve forco by law enforce ment agencies within the Jurisdiction of said municipality against any individuals engaged in nonviolent civil rights demonstrations." Los Angeles received almost $66 million in such grants in fiscal year 1989. 'This is what the Democrats used to do all ihe tune, blackmailing cities into doing what the federal government wants it to do," said Gates. "Now we've got Republicans doing it." The Justice Department already investigates charges of police abuse, Gates pointed out. But if this "horrendous" new measure has its intended effect, eliminating the use of painful control techniques in nonviolent demonstralions, his department may have no choice but to watch as demonstrators of any. stripe take over any facility they choose, he said. Carol Sobel, staff attorney for the Los Angeles Chapter of the ACLU, shares Gates' assessment lhat the government acted in this case because conservative lawmakers were sympathetic to the ami -abortion cause. But, unlike Gates, she believes that using pain-compliance against any nonviolent demonstrator is often "barbaric," and she supports restraints on the police. Sobel was "amused" at how quickly lawmakers addressed complaints of police brutality that, she said, have been raised for years by protesters against U.S. policy in El Salvador by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party and other groups generally viewed less sympathetically by conservatives. Still, she believes the new measure will help assure "that the cost of demonstrating in this tows doesn't escalate. I just hope conservatives remember that it Includes everyone." |
| Filename | indep-box23-07-03~055.tif |
| Archival file | Volume76/indep-box23-07-03~055.tif |
