Op-Ed: How to reform L.A. City Hall to avoid future corruption and scandal
By Paul H. ShumakerSpecial to The Times
Published: December 12, 2013
Photo by Dan Tuffs/KPCC
In Los Angeles, even the most trivial street protests are the subject of police harassment, which makes it tempting for the LAPD to consider violence and violence of a more serious sort as a solution to every problem.
But one thing is certain: any reform effort — whether in the police department, the public service commission or City Hall — has to be based on evidence, not politics.
L.A. City Councilmember Tom LaBonge (whose brother is now the police chief) sees political motivations in his brother’s appointment. And to the extent that the LAPD’s culture requires a certain amount of aggression in law enforcement, how can that be blamed on the mayor?
But there’s another point: it’s hard to know whether the current culture of hostility and aggression has a lasting effect until one tries to see whether it’s working.
But there’s another point: it’s hard to know whether the current culture of hostility and aggression has a lasting effect until one tries to see whether it’s working.
For L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who took office in January 2011 as a reformer, there’s the question of whether or not to reform what he calls “the LAPD.”
He has been re-elected unopposed this year.
On the other hand, if Garcetti has an ounce of common sense and a fraction of the reformist zeal that he had when he first took office, he will use the next few days to review the evidence on whether or not to reform the L.A. Police Department, and the evidence suggests that reform may be necessary.
Consider an example.
Recently, the chief of the LAPD’s internal affairs division said that the department’
