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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
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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
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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
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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.
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