Letters between Senger & Independent Commission, 1991-05 |
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Warren Christopher OVJR John A. Arguelles Vla! OVJR MEMBERS Roy A. Anderson Willie R. Barnes Prof. Leo F. Estrada Mickey Kantor Richard M. Mosk INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON THE Los ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT May 29th 1 9 9 1 John W. Spiegel GENERAL COUNSa DEPlITY GENERAL COUNSEL Percy Anderson Richard E. Drooyan Gary A. Feess Raymond c . Fisher Ernest J. Geno Lawrence B. Gotlieb Thomas E. Holliday Andrea Sheridan Ordin John Brooks Slaughl.Cr Robert E. Tranquada, M.D. Barbara J. Kelley Louise A. LaMothe Yolanda Orozoo Gilbert T. Ray EXECUTIVE DlllECTOlt {213) 669-6453 Dennis M. Perluss John B . Sherrell Brian A. Sun Prof. Bryce Nelson Mr. Horst Se nger ~RPRESS 6241 Keystone Street Simi Valley, CA 93063 De ar Mr. Se nger: on b e half of Warren Christopher and the Independent Comm i ssion on the Los Angeles Police Departme nt, I am wr iting to thank you for your letter of May 23 1991 . With its very short deadline and heavy responsibilities, the Commission hopes that you will understand that it is not possible to respond in d e tail to your letter. However, your letter has been read and will be made a par t of the Commission fil e s for further r eview by the Comm i s sioners a nd staff . We a g a in thank y ou for writing . Very truly yours, !f::/~z7 Exec utive Directo r GTR Suit e 19 10 400 Sou th Hope Stree t Los Angeles, Californ ia 9007 1-2899 Telephone (213 ) 622-5205 Facsimile (213) 622-73 18 ··-···-···· -··-----~---------------------------- f\~ fft~ ~~ MAY 2 3 799l W..C.'8 SJE.ac~ i3 ;::> A C T 1 Simi Valley ,CA May 21. 91 Mr.Warren Christopher ,Chairman Independent Committee on the Los Angeles Police Dept. 400 So. Hope Street Suite 1910 Los Angeles ,CA 90071 Dear Mr. Christopher; The following letter is a slightly edited version of what I sent to the Los Angeles Times in late March 1991.I believe events since then have made it clear that what I wrote is even more relevant now when it may even seem that the real and serious problem of policing 1n Los Angeles appears in danger of becoming a political,even personality issue which deflects from a major problem in our nation. So I send this to some of our leaders in government whose voice can influence what will be done towards the necessary improvement of policing in America. Before moving from Los Angeles I was for a quarter century involved as a volunteer with Youth Services in the War on Poverty , with the L.A.Co. Probation Dept. and with the LAPD in Neighborhood Watch ,as a Volunteer Senior Deputy Auxiliary Police. I am a member of various Organizations in the field of criminology nd criminal justice. Horst S nger 6241 Keystone Street Simi Valley ,CA 93063Fs P A C T 3 Simi Valley;CA March 24.1991 The Editor Los Angeles Times Times Mirror Square Los Angeles ,CA 90053 The current controversy regarding the Los Angeles and really American police in general ,prompted the following : LOOKING BEYOND : The universally condemned conduct by police officers in Los Angeles, seen worldwide on television, has caused a barrage cf angry comments, joined even by our President. The seriousness of what happened will make it likely that those directly involved will encounter the legal response, appropriate to what has been seen by too many people by now to have it just fade away with time. We must look beyond that event, beyond the immense anger it aroused and beyond the strong and widespred belief that it was not an aberration.Let us begin to think of how we can best prevent such behavior by police.This is the time when it is possible to design policies to achieve just that.Would it not be appropriate if the Los Angeles Police Department , which originated DARE, to complement it now with PACT. As DARE is to teach how to deal with drugs , PACT shall teach how to interact with police. Let us initiate a Police Action Cooperation Training program.Let it teach our youth in school how to act when they have an encounter with police. For adults such a program can be implemented with drivers license processing,perhaps no more than through a booklet,which can also be available at libraries ,by our elected officials , by the ACLU and anywhere where people may pick it up in pamphlet form.Let this program teach what rights the police has,and what precaution officers must observe ,what consequences must follow certain actions by citizens in adversary encounters and what rights and obligation the citizen has.Everyone must realize that the near universal weapons possesssion is a problem no police officer can ever for a moment ignore. Police too must become educated about citizen behavior. They are already kenly aware of the possibility to encounter firearms. This possibility cannot be ignored for a second. It will always present a terrible and immediate threat to any policee officer.But Police must recognize that ,when subjected to violence, anyone is liable , without thinking , to attempt instinctively evasion or defensive actions which may not constitute deliberate counterattack or disobedience. P A C T 4 Let each encounter between citizen and police end by handing the citizen a form to fill in a questionaire about his perception of the encounter. This is to complement the police report.The officers must hand this routinely to the citizen.Every such form must have the time and place of the action and the preprinted ID of the dispensing and every other officer present.The citizen must have time a fter an encounter and away from police officers to make his report. Let discrepancies be given to an ombudsperson for consideration .Perhaps we may need the use of video recorders by police in such encounters. We surely must have still fotos of any citizen rendered physically unable to fill out such a form. The officer in charge of any police encounter with citizens must have a form which is to be signed by all officers present,showing time , place and cause of any such encounter.This may indeed counter what is often called the code-of-silence. I was wondering why I did not read of drug testing of the involved officers in the King beating. When those working in jobs with the potential of danger to others ,like pilots , bus drivers or air controllers ,for example , are involved in a job-related event where persons have been endangered, they are drug-tested. The beating victim was. But not the beating officers.Such testing should be routine whenever officers used force which resulted in injury. These proposals may not be welcome , no one likes testing or filling out another paper,and especially not one which invites criticism. But given the special status of police , their monopoly of deadly force in society,the likelihood of their acting without impartial witness, such steps are necessary.I am certain that those police officers who carry out their work as we expect them to , will eventually welcome PACT as a program which will become a powerfull tool to build an ever stronger bond between the community and its only force of protection. But it may do more than that. It helps to lessen the impact of police misconduct on our budget,not only by lessening the costs of settling suits against officers ,but also by reducing the effects on police officers which causes them to claim disability and compensation for what they claim as their suffering.The worst effect of such behavior we saw on the video from Lakewood Terrace is in its lesson for citizens to lose respect for law and order,and worse ,to follow that lesson of violence. In this, police are as much ,if not more than prisons are held to be , schools for crime. Gratuitous Police violence rather then preventing crime creates c r j, mi na ls. Let us make a PACT between police and citizen which will produce the cooperation so urgently needed for the restoration of the domestic tranquility promised in our P A C T 5 Constitution.We badly need our police ,but we all must be able to trust the police officer we may encounter.Only with this trust can he carry out his mission to serve and protect. Horst Senger 6241 Keystone Street Simi Valley ,CA 93063 PS: I am a freelance writer on criminal justice matters whose writing appeared in journals of professional organizations.I have been a Citizen Senior Deputy Auxiliary Police Volunteer and Neighborhood Watch member (and occasional speaker) in Los Angeles until I moved to Ventura County.
Object Description
Description
Title | Letters between Senger & Independent Commission, 1991-05 |
Description | Gilbert T. Ray (Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department), 400 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, California, letter, 1991 May 15, to Horst Senger, 6241 Keystone Street, Simi Valley, California. ❧ Horst Senger, 6241 Keystone Street, Simi Valley, California, letter, 1991 May 7, to Warren Christopher (Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department), 400 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, California. With envelope. ❧ Horst Senger, Simi Valley, California, letter, 1991 March 24, to Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California. |
Geographic subject (roadway) | 400 South Hope Street; 6241 Keystone Street |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles; Simi Valley |
Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles; Ventura |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | USA |
Geographic coordinates | 34.051552,-118.255687; 34.2788375,-118.6701877 |
Coverage date | 1991-03-24; 1991-05-07; 1991-05-15 |
Creator |
Ray, Gilbert T. Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department Senger, Horst |
Contributor |
Senger, Horst, recipient Christopher, Warren, recipient Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, recipient Los Angeles Times, recipient |
Date created | 1991-03-24; 1991-05-07; 1991-05-15 |
Type | texts |
Format | 5 p. |
Format (aat) | correspondence |
Format (imt) | application/pdf |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Series | Independent Commission File List |
File | Complaints, suggestions, and support |
Box and folder | box 23, folder 12, item 25 |
Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
Full text | Warren Christopher OVJR John A. Arguelles Vla! OVJR MEMBERS Roy A. Anderson Willie R. Barnes Prof. Leo F. Estrada Mickey Kantor Richard M. Mosk INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON THE Los ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT May 29th 1 9 9 1 John W. Spiegel GENERAL COUNSa DEPlITY GENERAL COUNSEL Percy Anderson Richard E. Drooyan Gary A. Feess Raymond c . Fisher Ernest J. Geno Lawrence B. Gotlieb Thomas E. Holliday Andrea Sheridan Ordin John Brooks Slaughl.Cr Robert E. Tranquada, M.D. Barbara J. Kelley Louise A. LaMothe Yolanda Orozoo Gilbert T. Ray EXECUTIVE DlllECTOlt {213) 669-6453 Dennis M. Perluss John B . Sherrell Brian A. Sun Prof. Bryce Nelson Mr. Horst Se nger ~RPRESS 6241 Keystone Street Simi Valley, CA 93063 De ar Mr. Se nger: on b e half of Warren Christopher and the Independent Comm i ssion on the Los Angeles Police Departme nt, I am wr iting to thank you for your letter of May 23 1991 . With its very short deadline and heavy responsibilities, the Commission hopes that you will understand that it is not possible to respond in d e tail to your letter. However, your letter has been read and will be made a par t of the Commission fil e s for further r eview by the Comm i s sioners a nd staff . We a g a in thank y ou for writing . Very truly yours, !f::/~z7 Exec utive Directo r GTR Suit e 19 10 400 Sou th Hope Stree t Los Angeles, Californ ia 9007 1-2899 Telephone (213 ) 622-5205 Facsimile (213) 622-73 18 ··-···-···· -··-----~---------------------------- f\~ fft~ ~~ MAY 2 3 799l W..C.'8 SJE.ac~ i3 ;::> A C T 1 Simi Valley ,CA May 21. 91 Mr.Warren Christopher ,Chairman Independent Committee on the Los Angeles Police Dept. 400 So. Hope Street Suite 1910 Los Angeles ,CA 90071 Dear Mr. Christopher; The following letter is a slightly edited version of what I sent to the Los Angeles Times in late March 1991.I believe events since then have made it clear that what I wrote is even more relevant now when it may even seem that the real and serious problem of policing 1n Los Angeles appears in danger of becoming a political,even personality issue which deflects from a major problem in our nation. So I send this to some of our leaders in government whose voice can influence what will be done towards the necessary improvement of policing in America. Before moving from Los Angeles I was for a quarter century involved as a volunteer with Youth Services in the War on Poverty , with the L.A.Co. Probation Dept. and with the LAPD in Neighborhood Watch ,as a Volunteer Senior Deputy Auxiliary Police. I am a member of various Organizations in the field of criminology nd criminal justice. Horst S nger 6241 Keystone Street Simi Valley ,CA 93063Fs P A C T 3 Simi Valley;CA March 24.1991 The Editor Los Angeles Times Times Mirror Square Los Angeles ,CA 90053 The current controversy regarding the Los Angeles and really American police in general ,prompted the following : LOOKING BEYOND : The universally condemned conduct by police officers in Los Angeles, seen worldwide on television, has caused a barrage cf angry comments, joined even by our President. The seriousness of what happened will make it likely that those directly involved will encounter the legal response, appropriate to what has been seen by too many people by now to have it just fade away with time. We must look beyond that event, beyond the immense anger it aroused and beyond the strong and widespred belief that it was not an aberration.Let us begin to think of how we can best prevent such behavior by police.This is the time when it is possible to design policies to achieve just that.Would it not be appropriate if the Los Angeles Police Department , which originated DARE, to complement it now with PACT. As DARE is to teach how to deal with drugs , PACT shall teach how to interact with police. Let us initiate a Police Action Cooperation Training program.Let it teach our youth in school how to act when they have an encounter with police. For adults such a program can be implemented with drivers license processing,perhaps no more than through a booklet,which can also be available at libraries ,by our elected officials , by the ACLU and anywhere where people may pick it up in pamphlet form.Let this program teach what rights the police has,and what precaution officers must observe ,what consequences must follow certain actions by citizens in adversary encounters and what rights and obligation the citizen has.Everyone must realize that the near universal weapons possesssion is a problem no police officer can ever for a moment ignore. Police too must become educated about citizen behavior. They are already kenly aware of the possibility to encounter firearms. This possibility cannot be ignored for a second. It will always present a terrible and immediate threat to any policee officer.But Police must recognize that ,when subjected to violence, anyone is liable , without thinking , to attempt instinctively evasion or defensive actions which may not constitute deliberate counterattack or disobedience. P A C T 4 Let each encounter between citizen and police end by handing the citizen a form to fill in a questionaire about his perception of the encounter. This is to complement the police report.The officers must hand this routinely to the citizen.Every such form must have the time and place of the action and the preprinted ID of the dispensing and every other officer present.The citizen must have time a fter an encounter and away from police officers to make his report. Let discrepancies be given to an ombudsperson for consideration .Perhaps we may need the use of video recorders by police in such encounters. We surely must have still fotos of any citizen rendered physically unable to fill out such a form. The officer in charge of any police encounter with citizens must have a form which is to be signed by all officers present,showing time , place and cause of any such encounter.This may indeed counter what is often called the code-of-silence. I was wondering why I did not read of drug testing of the involved officers in the King beating. When those working in jobs with the potential of danger to others ,like pilots , bus drivers or air controllers ,for example , are involved in a job-related event where persons have been endangered, they are drug-tested. The beating victim was. But not the beating officers.Such testing should be routine whenever officers used force which resulted in injury. These proposals may not be welcome , no one likes testing or filling out another paper,and especially not one which invites criticism. But given the special status of police , their monopoly of deadly force in society,the likelihood of their acting without impartial witness, such steps are necessary.I am certain that those police officers who carry out their work as we expect them to , will eventually welcome PACT as a program which will become a powerfull tool to build an ever stronger bond between the community and its only force of protection. But it may do more than that. It helps to lessen the impact of police misconduct on our budget,not only by lessening the costs of settling suits against officers ,but also by reducing the effects on police officers which causes them to claim disability and compensation for what they claim as their suffering.The worst effect of such behavior we saw on the video from Lakewood Terrace is in its lesson for citizens to lose respect for law and order,and worse ,to follow that lesson of violence. In this, police are as much ,if not more than prisons are held to be , schools for crime. Gratuitous Police violence rather then preventing crime creates c r j, mi na ls. Let us make a PACT between police and citizen which will produce the cooperation so urgently needed for the restoration of the domestic tranquility promised in our P A C T 5 Constitution.We badly need our police ,but we all must be able to trust the police officer we may encounter.Only with this trust can he carry out his mission to serve and protect. Horst Senger 6241 Keystone Street Simi Valley ,CA 93063 PS: I am a freelance writer on criminal justice matters whose writing appeared in journals of professional organizations.I have been a Citizen Senior Deputy Auxiliary Police Volunteer and Neighborhood Watch member (and occasional speaker) in Los Angeles until I moved to Ventura County. |
Filename | indep-box23-12-25.pdf |
Archival file | Volume73/indep-box23-12-25.pdf |