Bosworth, memo, 1991-04-16, to Anderson |
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.... MEMORANDUM TO: Percy Anderson FROM: Greer c. Boswort~ DATE: April 16, 1991 RE: Telephone Conferences On April 16, 1991 I conducted a telephone interview with Mr. Marshal A. Phillips a former chairperson of the Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force, the official liaison between the LAPD, Police Commission and the Gay community and Max J. Kerstein, President of Beverage Bulletin, a monthly newspaper. The purpose of the interviews was to obtain for the Independent Commission on the Police Department (the Commission) an outline of Mr. Marshall's and Mr. Kerstein's point of view. They had each submitted a letter to the Christopher Commission expressing an interest in presenting information regarding their dealings I • with the Potice Department. Phillips' Background Phillips is a member of the City of Los Angeles' Hate Violence Reduction Committee and has a J.D. degree from Willemethe University in Salem Oregon. He is very active in the gay community. Phillips' Proposed Testimony The thrust of Phillips' proposed testimony is that the Police Department has failed to recognize the gay community as Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 2 one of the diverse groups within Los Angeles, has failed to classify crimes against gay citizens as "hate crimes" and has failed to provide sympathetic officers to entertain complaints from gay citizens. Phillips contends that inasmuch as the FBI classifies the Rodney King incident as a "hate crime" a similar classification is necessary with regard to crimes against gays. He contends further that police either discourage gays from making complaints within the department or appear to listen to the complaint but fail to take action. According to Phillips, Silverlake, Echo Park, Venice and studio City are clearly gay communities and police have taken no steps to protect homosexuals within these communities. He is willing to provide a list of complaints from gay citizens that were never acted upon by the Police Department. For example, he contends that approximately three years ago police officers arbitrariJy "clubbed" several gay citizens at a gay bar. He conducted his own fact-finding investigation including a meeting with gay citizens and the victims. He obtained photos of the victims' injuries sustained as a result of this incident and presented these documents to the Commander of the Hollywood station who promised an investigation. According to Phillips, the Police Department did not conduct interviews with the individuals involved in this incident. However, he eventually received a one-line response from the Police 20852 , . Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 3 Department indicating that the claim against the officers was unsubstantiated. Phillips then contacted several members of the Police Commission, including former Police Commissioner Barbara Schlie and Steve Ysles. He testified before the Police Commission's Subcommittee on Civil Rights presenting the evidence regarding this incident but again no action was taken. It is Phillips' contention that gay citizens have no confidence in Darryl Gates or his efforts to protect them from violence. Phillips personally met with Darryl Gates requesting that he recognize the gay population to the same extent that the Asian, Latino and African-American communities are recognized by allowing gay officers to speak at sensitivity training sessions and cadet training sessions. He believes that such participation would give gay citizens a sense of confidence. Phillips noted that police departments in San Diego, San Francisco and New York have included gay police officers as leaders in their sensitivity training activities. Phillips' Recommendations In essence Phillips suggests: (1) that gays be included in sensitivity and cadet training, (2) that the police department recruit in the gay community, (3) that police manuals and education materials include gays as a recognized group, (4) that crimes against gay citizens be classified as "hate crimes" and 20852 Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 4 (5) that police officers be more sympathetic to the gay community when crimes are reported. Finally Phillips suggested that the Commission contact Roger Coggan, the Legal Director of the Gay Lesbian Community Service Center (764-7400 ext. 490) and Rand Schrader, Municipal Court Judge. Kerstein's Background Since 1958, Kerstein has been a professional journalist of the "Beverage Bulletin," a trade newspaper with a circulation of 15,000 to retail businesses in southern California. In addition, he has performed various functions within the Police Department on a voluntary basis for the past thirteen years. For four years he worked at the downtown Police Station as a volunteer checking criminal histories of arrestees. Eight years ago he was elected to work in various divisions throughout the City performing the same func~ion. Five years ago he obtained a non-sworn position as a Specialist Reserve Officer. He receives nominal compensation of fifteen dollars a month in this capacity. Kerstein states that he submits monthly reports to the Reserve Coordinator and performs his duties primarily on the weekends and at night. Kerstein's Proposed Testimony Kerstein contends that during his thirteen years as a volunteer within the Department {performing perhaps 1,000 hours a 20852 - • I ., .. ... Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 5 year), he has never seen any incident in which a police officer mistreated an individual, either verbally or physically. He contends further that Los Angeles police officers treat arrestees in a reasonable manner. He noted that if the police offi cers were mistreating individuals he would likely have observed this mistreatment given the significant contacts he has had with police officers and furthermore if this behavior was occurring he would not have participated as a volunteer within the department . Kerstein concluded that in his opinion a review of police activity over the course of a year would show that any mistreatment of arrestees is "minute". Kerstein's Recommendation As . an aside, he noted that the Commission may want to evaluate the department's policy of conducting personnel deployments every thirty days. These deployments require constant turnover within the department. 20852
Object Description
Title | LAPD interviews #3(c) (2 of 2), 1991 Apr.-July |
Description | Los Angeles Police Department interviews #3(c) (2 of 2), 1991 April 16 - July 8. 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 | 1991-04-16/1991-07-08 |
Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
Date created | 1991-04-16/1991-07-08 |
Type | texts |
Format | 114 p. |
Format (aat) |
memorandums transcriptions (documents) |
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 | Los Angeles Police Department Interviews |
Box and folder | box 24, folder 16 |
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-box24-16 |
Description
Title | Bosworth, memo, 1991-04-16, to Anderson |
Description | Memo re: telephone conference - from: Greer C Bosworth; to: Percy Anderson |
Coverage date | 1991-04-16 |
Date created | 1991-04-16 |
Type | texts |
Format | 5 p. |
Format (aat) | transcriptions (documents) |
Format (imt) | application/pdf |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Series | Independent Commission File List |
File | Los Angeles Police Department Interviews |
Box and folder | box 24, folder 16, item 13 |
Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
Full text | .... MEMORANDUM TO: Percy Anderson FROM: Greer c. Boswort~ DATE: April 16, 1991 RE: Telephone Conferences On April 16, 1991 I conducted a telephone interview with Mr. Marshal A. Phillips a former chairperson of the Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force, the official liaison between the LAPD, Police Commission and the Gay community and Max J. Kerstein, President of Beverage Bulletin, a monthly newspaper. The purpose of the interviews was to obtain for the Independent Commission on the Police Department (the Commission) an outline of Mr. Marshall's and Mr. Kerstein's point of view. They had each submitted a letter to the Christopher Commission expressing an interest in presenting information regarding their dealings I • with the Potice Department. Phillips' Background Phillips is a member of the City of Los Angeles' Hate Violence Reduction Committee and has a J.D. degree from Willemethe University in Salem Oregon. He is very active in the gay community. Phillips' Proposed Testimony The thrust of Phillips' proposed testimony is that the Police Department has failed to recognize the gay community as Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 2 one of the diverse groups within Los Angeles, has failed to classify crimes against gay citizens as "hate crimes" and has failed to provide sympathetic officers to entertain complaints from gay citizens. Phillips contends that inasmuch as the FBI classifies the Rodney King incident as a "hate crime" a similar classification is necessary with regard to crimes against gays. He contends further that police either discourage gays from making complaints within the department or appear to listen to the complaint but fail to take action. According to Phillips, Silverlake, Echo Park, Venice and studio City are clearly gay communities and police have taken no steps to protect homosexuals within these communities. He is willing to provide a list of complaints from gay citizens that were never acted upon by the Police Department. For example, he contends that approximately three years ago police officers arbitrariJy "clubbed" several gay citizens at a gay bar. He conducted his own fact-finding investigation including a meeting with gay citizens and the victims. He obtained photos of the victims' injuries sustained as a result of this incident and presented these documents to the Commander of the Hollywood station who promised an investigation. According to Phillips, the Police Department did not conduct interviews with the individuals involved in this incident. However, he eventually received a one-line response from the Police 20852 , . Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 3 Department indicating that the claim against the officers was unsubstantiated. Phillips then contacted several members of the Police Commission, including former Police Commissioner Barbara Schlie and Steve Ysles. He testified before the Police Commission's Subcommittee on Civil Rights presenting the evidence regarding this incident but again no action was taken. It is Phillips' contention that gay citizens have no confidence in Darryl Gates or his efforts to protect them from violence. Phillips personally met with Darryl Gates requesting that he recognize the gay population to the same extent that the Asian, Latino and African-American communities are recognized by allowing gay officers to speak at sensitivity training sessions and cadet training sessions. He believes that such participation would give gay citizens a sense of confidence. Phillips noted that police departments in San Diego, San Francisco and New York have included gay police officers as leaders in their sensitivity training activities. Phillips' Recommendations In essence Phillips suggests: (1) that gays be included in sensitivity and cadet training, (2) that the police department recruit in the gay community, (3) that police manuals and education materials include gays as a recognized group, (4) that crimes against gay citizens be classified as "hate crimes" and 20852 Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 4 (5) that police officers be more sympathetic to the gay community when crimes are reported. Finally Phillips suggested that the Commission contact Roger Coggan, the Legal Director of the Gay Lesbian Community Service Center (764-7400 ext. 490) and Rand Schrader, Municipal Court Judge. Kerstein's Background Since 1958, Kerstein has been a professional journalist of the "Beverage Bulletin," a trade newspaper with a circulation of 15,000 to retail businesses in southern California. In addition, he has performed various functions within the Police Department on a voluntary basis for the past thirteen years. For four years he worked at the downtown Police Station as a volunteer checking criminal histories of arrestees. Eight years ago he was elected to work in various divisions throughout the City performing the same func~ion. Five years ago he obtained a non-sworn position as a Specialist Reserve Officer. He receives nominal compensation of fifteen dollars a month in this capacity. Kerstein states that he submits monthly reports to the Reserve Coordinator and performs his duties primarily on the weekends and at night. Kerstein's Proposed Testimony Kerstein contends that during his thirteen years as a volunteer within the Department {performing perhaps 1,000 hours a 20852 - • I ., .. ... Memo To Percy Anderson April 16, 1991 Page 5 year), he has never seen any incident in which a police officer mistreated an individual, either verbally or physically. He contends further that Los Angeles police officers treat arrestees in a reasonable manner. He noted that if the police offi cers were mistreating individuals he would likely have observed this mistreatment given the significant contacts he has had with police officers and furthermore if this behavior was occurring he would not have participated as a volunteer within the department . Kerstein concluded that in his opinion a review of police activity over the course of a year would show that any mistreatment of arrestees is "minute". Kerstein's Recommendation As . an aside, he noted that the Commission may want to evaluate the department's policy of conducting personnel deployments every thirty days. These deployments require constant turnover within the department. 20852 |
Filename | indep-box24-16-13.pdf |
Archival file | Volume81/indep-box24-16-13.pdf |