LOS ANGELES: VOTE NO ON CHARTER AMENDMENT C TOMORROW, TUESDAY MAY 16!!
Charter Amendment C – if passed – will change the Los Angeles City Charter to allow LAPD officers who the Chief has found to have engaged in misconduct – including corruption, excessive use of force, sexual harassment or assault, etc. – the opportunity to have their case reviewed by a three-member civilian review panel instead of the current Police Board of Rights that includes two LAPD commanders and one civilian.
This might sound good, but history show us something very different:
1. The so-called “civilians” are appointed by the LA Police Commission and are required to have at least seven years experience in arbitration, mediation or administrrative hearings. Most are judges or attorneys, and few – if any – come from the communities most impacted by harsh policing and police violence, let alone have themselves been treated badly by law enforcement.
2. Years of hearings with the current structure of two commanders and one “civilian” have shown that the civiilians hand down lighter discipline than LAPD commanders. That’s why the police union is pushing that officers be able to choose panels that are 100% “civilian” to review their case.
According to a report presented to the LA City Council by the Chief Legislative Analyst, the civiians on the panels are “consistently more lenient than their sworn officer counterparts.”
In other words, they’re less likely to hold an officer accountable than other police officers.
3. Already, the Police Board of Rights is weak on accountability. Passing Charter Amendment C will make it even weaker. In more than half of the cases over the past six years in which the chief of police has recommended that an officer be fired, the Board of Rights has overturned that decision and kept the officer on the force.
SO, ON TUESDAY, MAY 16, PLEASE VOTE – EVEN IF YOU JUST GO TO DEFEAT CHARTER AMENDMENT C! VOTE NO ON C AND PUSH INSTEAD FOR STRONGER COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT OF THE LAPD – LIKE A FULLY ELECTED, COMMUNITY-SELECTED POLICE COMMISSION!
#NoOnC #VOTE #LosAngeles #Justice #PoliceViolence