Remarks by LAPD Chief Bratton Still Reverberating

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton's apology July 3 for making remarks criticized as offensive to blacks did little to quell outrage directed at the Police Department at a town hall meeting held Saturday by an ad hoc citizens commission in Leimert Park. The discussion began with a video clip of a June 30 City Council meeting in which Councilman Bernard C. Parks asked Bratton to respond to claims that the chief had used words such as "tribal," "thugs" and "terrorists" to describe minorities. A spokeswoman for Bratton later said the chief was using the words only to describe gang members. [more]

One Year-ago Vietnamese woman, Bich Cau Thi Tran was killed by Police

Slaying spurs reforms
For local Vietnamese, July 13, 2003, is more than the date when Bich Cau Thi Tran died. It symbolizes the day they emerged as a power to be reckoned with at San Jose City Hall. That evening, a San Jose police officer fatally shot the 25-year-old mother of two as she waved a vegetable peeler that was mistaken for a cleaver. The tragedy united Vietnamese as never before, leading the community to exert a newfound political influence. A year later, San Jose's Vietnamese are more vocal about police conduct, and a pan-minority coalition has been created to seek reforms. [more]

Protesters want public to see video of white cops beating handcuffed Black Man

Protesters have been gathering in front of police headquarters at Seventh and Jefferson streets since the December 2002 shooting of James Taylor -- a black man who was killed by a white officer. Coleman said that since that time, other cases have also caused concern. Yesterday participants prayed for those involved in recent cases, including Marshall Galloway, 25, who was restrained in a headlock by an officer and sprayed with pepper spray even after he was handcuffed. Forty-five minutes of that incident were caught on police video. [more]

• Metro police to investigate videotaped clash at traffic stop [more]
• SEE video [here]

L.A. Policing Is Called Racially Discriminatory

At forums in response to the recent videotaped beating of a car-theft suspect, people of color tell stories of harassment. At five public forums held Thursday on the Los Angeles Police Department's relations with the communities it patrols, the department was roundly criticized as insensitive and intimidating to people of color. [more]

Videos of LAPD Beating Don't Back Claims About Wire Cutters

Sources say tapes fail to show police finding the item they say was in the suspect's pocket. Investigators scrutinizing television news footage of last month's police beating of Stanley Miller have found no evidence so far on the videotapes to back up police officers' claims that they recovered a pair of wire cutters in his pants pocket, Los Angeles Police Department sources said Thursday. Officer John Hatfield, who is seen on the videos hitting Miller 11 times with a flashlight, told investigators he took the action after another officer yelled that he felt a gun in Miller's pocket. No gun was found, but the officers said they recovered wire cutters from Miller's right front pants pocket. [more]

Unarmed, Handcuffed Hispanic Man Shot and Killed by Houston Cops

• Civil Rights Group gets involved

The shooting death of an unarmed Hispanic man by a law officer has prompted a civil rights group to call for state and national investigations. Witnesses said 30-year-old Francisco Antonio Garza was handcuffed and beginning to comply with Precinct 1 Deputy Constable Brian Kirsch when he was fatally wounded on June 27, according to family members and officials. [more]

LAPD Also Probes Knee Strikes in Beating of Unarmed Black Man

The Los Angeles police investigation into the beating of car-theft suspect Stanley Miller is going beyond the 11 flashlight blows administered by Officer John J. Hatfield to include a second officer who is seen on TV news footage kneeing the suspect while the man is down. That blow, delivered by Officer Peter Bueno, occurred 54 seconds after police pushed Miller to the ground about 6 a.m. June 23 at the end of a chase through South Los Angeles and into Compton. [more] Pictured above: Stanley Miller shortly after he was accosted by the LAPD.

• GOOD COP BAD COP A computer system for tracking the behavior of LAPD officers has been in the works for over 11 years and isn't running yet. [more]

LAPD Beat Down-- Police Panel Has Kept Low Profile

Agency's inconspicuous response to June beating leads some to question its role, responsibilities. The panel, whose five members are appointed by the mayor to review almost every aspect of the department, has not met since Officer John Hatfield was shown hitting Stanley Miller 11 times with a flashlight on June 23. [more] Pictured above: Stanley Miller, an unarmed Black man beaten down by the LAPD last week.

Report on Dallas Police Fake Drug Scandal on the way

A city panel is preparing to present a detailed report on the 2001 fake drugs scandal within the Dallas Police Department to the City Council on Aug. 4 after months of delay.The presentation will conclude an eight-month investigation into why Dallas narcotics officers falsely arrested more than two dozen people, mostly Hispanic immigrants. [more]

Fatal Albany police shooting casts 20-year shadow

'Those cops up here are killers.'
Some say little has changed in the wake of Jessie Davis' death. Davis, a 35-year-old mentally ill black man, died when he was struck four times by shots fired by white police officers responding to a call about a man gone berserk. Twenty years after the most racially divisive killing in the city's history, the collective memory of Davis' death and reforms it spurred appear as forsaken as the dilapidated building where he lived and died. [more]