The L.A. Police Commission Meets on Zoom Tuesday, 6/2/20
By Dan Fritz | KPFK
UPDATE 6:38PM Wednesday, 6/3/20 From City News Service:
The president of the Los Angeles Police Commission says the panel will hire an independent prosecutor, outside the District Attorney's Office, to review discipline options regarding LAPD officers.
Following nearly a week of protests in L.A. streets, the Los Angeles Police Commission agreed Tuesday to review and revise LAPD policies related to police training and use-of-force incidents.
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and other community groups have been calling for reform within LAPD for years. Most meetings of the L.A. Police Commission for the past few years have regularly featured acts of civil disobedience by activists calling on the commission to take action against police brutality, especially against black people. Protesters have brought many meetings to a halt by calling on the commissioners to "say their names," the names of the victims the activists say were murdered by L.A. police, including Wakiesha Wilson, Grechario Mack, and so many others.
Moving to an online meeting format because of the pandemic has made shutting down the commission meetings with civil disobedience impossible for activists. But the number of people who wanted to join the meeting has skyrocketed in the wake of the recent massive protests against police brutality here in Los Angeles.
In a marathon meeting Tuesday, commissioners heard from hundreds of people giving public comment, many criticizing LAPD Chief Michel Moore and calling for him to lose his job.
"I am a 16-year-old young black woman, and I just want to propose a question. Do you know the trauma behind watching countless black men and women be killed by racist police officers?" said Lexi Underwood, who said she attended a protest on Saturday. "As we yelled the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, police laughed at us. Your officers were the ones being violent with us."
Many also criticized Chief Moore for comments he made Monday, which he has since apologized for.
Commenting on arrests made over the weekend he said that "we didn't have people mourning the death of this man, George Floyd, we had people capitalizing. His death is on their hands as much as it is those officers."
On Twitter, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles called for Moore to be fired for those comments alone.
Many members of the public at the police commission meeting accused Moore of insincerely apologizing for his remarks. Many also claimed LAPD officers were being unnecessarily violent during recent peaceful protests.
And many accused the commission of either incompetence or a purposeful effort to keep the public out, after only 500 people were initially allowed into the commission's online Zoom meeting.
The commissioners apologized and also criticized themselves after so many people reported that they were unable to join the meeting.
"I think every one of us has a kid that could solve this technical problem that we're having right now in 5 minutes," said Commissioner Steve Soboroff. "I apologize that only 500 people can get on. We knew that thousands of people should be able to get on. There are conferences all over the place where more than 500 people go on. I think we should apologize. It's a big mistake."
Responding to the on-going protests, commissioners agreed that despite existing anti-bias training in the LAPD, more review is needed.
"The (current) reforms clearly have not resulted in the change we need," said Commissioner Shane Goldsmith. "It has not been enough."
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