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I
guess that I still have the right to remain silent, and I might
eventually wish that I had, but I doubt that anyone from LAPD is
reading my little website. If they are, I only hope that they read
it and then yield to my advice.
My problem today is with the Los
Angeles Police Department's Police Protective League. First of all,
just exactly what is it that those charged with "Protecting and
Serving" the public need be protected from? They are engaged in an
angry debate concerning the extension of present LA Police Chief,
Bernard Parks' contract. He wants another term. They want him gone.
According to the protective league, the Police Department is
suffering from manpower shortages, as officer abandon their jobs in
record numbers. The league claims that these shortages are due to
shortfalls in moral. The protectors' feel that their membership has
low moral because the Chief of Police fails to back them up, and follows
the book, to rigidly, in cases of citizen complaints against officers.
Next I can't help but wonder what
makes these guys feel that they have a right to high moral on their
jobs. I know a lot of people that are dissatisfied with their present
position, and a few that flat out hate their jobs, boss's and company.
Some of them eventually quit or get fired. Some of them eventually
make the best of the situation or transfer into a new position or
department. In any case, they have no right to expect their moral
to be high.
I worry about cops that are complaining
about citizen complaints. I personally want nothing to do with the
police, and would never make up a complaint story, in order to get
their attention. In most cases, when I have had a legitimate complaint
(and I can name a couple…)
I generally resisted making waves, because I figured that I could
not beat City Hall (and Daryl Gates). So what I'm saying is that,
while some people might file a complaint for any little thing, I
suspect that most people will feel grateful to have emerged alive
from any police contact, and if there was no serious abuse involved,
they will pay the ticket, or go to traffic school - rather than
face the cops again.
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