Not surprizingly an internal investigation at the LAPD discounts 320 complaints of racial profiling as unfounded or lacking sufficient evidence. Sounds just like here in Coquille last summer and is indicative of how the police cover for themselves.
n 2007, the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Group closed 320 investigations into allegations that officers stopped, questioned or otherwise confronted someone solely because of the person’s race. Nearly 80% of the time — 252 of the cases — the claims were dismissed outright as “unfounded,” according to an annual complaint report presented Tuesday to the civilian Police Commission. In the remaining cases, there was either insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion or no misconduct was uncovered.
“A big, fat zero,” said a visibly flummoxed Commissioner John Mack, who is African American and the former president of the Los Angeles Urban League. “In my mind, there is no such thing as a perfect institution . . . I find it baffling that we have these zeros.”
The above is precisely why citizen review boards and organizations like CopWatch are born. The people cannot depend upon the agency to police itself impartially. Video cameras and audio of all interactions between police and the citizenry are a must to protect our civil rights.
Meanwhile, nervous cops may have shot a CIA agent in Houston.
