As Los Angeles officials sought to mend fractured community relations Thursday by joining a march denouncing the police confrontation at a May Day rally, the ACLU filed a scathing petition asking a federal judge to consider extending a consent decree.

The strongly worded petition - which calls for a special hearing with the judge - argues the violent police action earlier this month exposes an entrenched, aggressive culture despite years of hard work to turn the department around.

"The LAPD's apparently deliberate and widespread use of excessive force on May 1 suggests an institution permissive of excessive force - a suggestion that is all too familiar regarding the LAPD," says the petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and constitutional lawyer Erwin Chemerinsky.

The federal consent decree was imposed on the LAPD in 2001 after the Rampart scandal revealed widespread police abuse and corruption. The decree required the department to rid itself of the abuse, but it was extended in 2006 due to a lack of compliance.

The decree is now set to expire in 2009.