LAPD Report Raises More Questions Than Answers

^{See also: Police Racism and Other Elephants in the Room}

Two days ago, LAPD Chief William Bratton reported on his department's mishandling of the May 1st MacArthur Park immigration rally. Judging by his report, the LAPD's decision to disperse 6,000 protesters by force--injuring 42, including nine members of the media covering the attacks--was not a flawed response strategy, primarily because it was not, strictly speaking, a strategy at all:

The report does not name any of the officers who are being investigated for possible use of excessive force. However, Bratton singled out two members of the command staff who were reassigned days after the incident — Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter and Cmdr. Louis Gray — for criticism as the highest ranking officers at the scene.

"There was a failure to convey to all the various entities what the chain of command was," Bratton said ... Bratton said it appeared that Gray made most of the decisions on the police response "with the acquiescence of Chief Carter" ...

"Chief Carter ... was at the scene of that incident … and as best we can tell never issued a single order during the time he was with the members of Metro. At this period of time we can't explain it — a two-star chief that's engaged in the middle of the activity and makes no effort to control at all."

The problem with Chief Carter is that this is not the first time LAPD officers made an unnecessary show of force on his watch. In any case, investigations are still ongoing. It's unlikely that department officials will pin the whole mess on the now-replaced deputy chief when there were officers running around beating journalists with batons, attacking their cameras, and so forth. Clearly some of the officers knew that they were doing something very wrong, and expected that media coverage of it could have a detrimental effect on their careers. I have a feeling they won't be disappointed.

See also:

• LAPD Attacks Prompt Investigation, Shakeup, Public Hearings