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African American LAPD Officers Come Out To Echo Dorner’s Claims of Departmental Racism

Christopher Dorner is no longer with us.  He no doubt died a death filled with fear and pain, so those who had hoped for resolution and some sort of vengeance for the crimes he committed should feel satisfied.  There is a mountain of conspiracy theory surrounding how he met his final end, but I’m not interested in any of that, because I read the manifesto and Christopher Dorner got exactly what he wanted.  In my belief system he is somewhere that his name surely got judged, and in my opinion he’s not enjoying the verdict.

We have a nasty habit in Southern California.  We can experience incident after incident of police abuse that would make any 3rd world dictator tip his hat bow and say we’re not worthy.  Federal judge steps in we get a consent decree, a Christopher Commission, a new Police Chief to introduce an alphabet initiative that sounds good on TV and does nothing and the LAPD continues to keep its culture.  

Now that Dorner is gone I’d like to share the stories of other African American LAPD officers who stepped forward.  They wanted him to stop.  They are crime fighters in their heart, but they also wanted to step forward in order to insure the racist tension and pain that caused Dorner to snap into an anti social monster is brought to light.

It’s a Women’s Issue

http://www.newsinblack.com/new…

“Cheryl Dorsey, 54, retired from the Los Angeles Police Department on August 26, 2000, exactly one day after her 20th anniversary with the department. When asked about Christopher Dorner, she says, ‘I am not surprised that it happened.  I am surprised it took this long and I’m convinced that it will happen again if the department doesn’t start to treat their employees better,'” said EURweb. “The mother of four says that when she was going through her own Board of Rights (BOR) hearing that involved the same charge as Dorner- giving false and misleading statements to an Internal Affairs investigator – when she seriously contemplated just jumping off the third floor of the Bradbury Building.”

“Married to another LAPD officer at the time, Dorsey says she was a victim of domestic violence and after details of incidents at her home found their way into the department, she was charged with six counts of unnecessarily causing the response of an outside agency for the six calls she made to the sheriff’s department from her home in Altadena.  The charge of giving false and misleading statements was tacked on when questioned by Internal Affairs,” said EURweb. “She says that chairman over the BOR at the time was Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy, a Mormon who was known throughout the department as being racist towards Blacks. Dorsey says that Pomeroy didn’t believe that she’d been the victim of domestic violence and told her as much.  In the end she was suspended for five days instead of being terminated.”

It was this woman’s interview that caused me to write this.  To hear her cry as she tells her story and not feel her pain probably means you need a soul transplant. Please go to the ABC site and watch her interview.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/st…

“I don’t condone what he’s done. It’s appalling. But, it could have been me,” she said. “It could have been many other officers that’s in the situation he’s in as we speak, and I just want him to know that there are officers out there that feel his pain.”

Crystal said she too had a grievance with the LAPD and was treated unfairly. She also said a number of officers feel the same as Dorner did.

“There is some truth. I can relate to a lot of what he stated in his manifesto,” she said. “I have no knowledge of what he personally went through; I can relate by what I went through. Speaking with other officers they can relate. I’m not saying I condone what he’s doing by any means, but I can see how he fell of the cliff. I can totally see it. Totally.”

She also said a number of different officers could have snapped like Dorner did, including herself, a thought she finds disturbing.

“I’m a female and to even think that that even could…It’s just frightening,” she said, breaking down in tears.

She wrote a very moving letter here it is  http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/fe…

When I read your manifesto, my heart just dropped and continues to be very heavy. I have shed many tears while reading of your experience with the department and the measures you’ve taken these past seven days, to be heard and to clear your good name. As I continue to shed tears and pray for you and all of us involved, you most know by now that you have been heard loud and clear. Reading of your experience and witnessing your present behavior has opened many wounds for myself as well as fellow officers, who have experienced similar situations. You’re absolutely right officer Dorner, “no one grow up and wants to be a cop killer. It was against everything you ever was.” But this is exactly what you have become! It’s been said, do not judge a man unless you walk a mile in his boots and I am certainly, not here to judge you by any means however, I have definitely walked a mile and then some in your boots. Much of what you have expressed in your manifesto, I can totally relate to, which is why I’m reaching out to you. I share your pain however, not by any means do I condone your actions. I will not go into detail of my experiences because it is not the purpose of this letter. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

It’s a men’s issue

Joe Jones

http://blogs.laweekly.com/info…

I feel your pains!…But you are going about thisthe wrong way. To take innocent lives could never be the answer to anything. I say this as a Man who experienced the same pain, betrayal, anger, suffering, litigation and agony that you did in many ways, Only I didn’t get Fired. I just choose to go a different route. My heart still suffered that same shock, I wasstill left to try and put the pieces back together. The disbelief that people could conspire and cause you to loose something you loved so dearly was still there. I lost my Career, I lost my Family, I lost my Dignity, I lost my Trust…But I am here now to hopefully one day see change…Bro, Don’t kill anymore Innocent people. Your point has been made. Clearly. They know you mean business, The whole world knows. Refrain from any further wrong doing and do what you must to salvage your Soul. Whatever that means to you. Just remember that God is a forgiving God.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1250…

Please read what he has to say.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/info…

Wayne Guillary

Sgt. Wayne K. Guillary posted a “personal appeal” on the website of Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable president Earl Ofari Hutchinson overnight. In it the sergeant says he still has ongoing concerns about racism in the department but that Chief Charlie Beck is a rare top cop “trying to make LAPD a better organization:”

… There’s still much work to be done … Some may say that nothing has changed with the leadership in the LAPD. … Trust me I have been in the fight with the organization regarding social and racial injustice within the LAPD. Currently, I am the only out spoken African American within the organization that possesses the moral courage to confront and ask questions unflinchingly about race, racism and discrimination in the LAPD. Yet still, I have paid a humiliating price inside the LAPD for preserving and believing in the importance of “I have a Dream.”

Not exactly an endorsement for LAPD Chief Charlie Beck’s insistence over the weekend that the department has made “strides” to shed a troubled past, strides he said he doesn’t want undone by what appear to be Dorner’s vengeful accusations of racism.

http://www.eurweb.com/2013/02/…

Brian Bentley Not only do I believe it I lived it this is a problem!  You really should read this guys story how many police officers are there close to the edge?

http://www.eurweb.com/2013/02/…

*Brian Bentley, 49, doesn’t agree with what Christopher Dorner – the ex-cop at center of a massive manhunt for the killings of three people-has done, but he certainly understands it.

As a former LAPD officer, Bentley, who is now an author, says that a Dorner-like situation was just a matter of time.

“It took longer than I thought it would for something like this to happen.”

In fact, Bentley says that when he was a police officer, there were frequent postings of “look out” bulletins on the walls at police stations featuring officers who’d been terminated and who were believed to have vendettas.

“When the Department terminated you, they intentionally tried to ruin your life,” Bentley explains.  “That’s how they discredited you.  Dorner isn’t the first ex-police officer to have a manifesto or some sort of hit list.”

Rodney King, Rampart, 39th and Dalton, May Day Mexican Mashing, we can stop the broken record.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 15 Comments

15 comments

  1. Adept2u

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O…

    A Los Angeles Police Department C.R.A.S.H. initiative that began in April 1987, Operation Hammer was a large scale attempt to crack down on gang violence in Los Angeles, California. After a group of people at a birthday party were shot down on their front lawn in a drive-by shooting, Chief of Police Daryl F. Gates responded with a roundup of gang members. At the height of this operation in April 1988, 1,453 people were arrested by one thousand police officers in South Central Los Angeles (now South Los Angeles) in a single weekend.[1]

    The origin of Operation Hammer can be traced back to the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. Under the supervision of Gates the LAPD expanded gang sweeps for the duration of the Olympics, which were implemented across wide areas of the city but especially South Central and East Los Angeles. After the games were over old, anti-syndicalist laws began to be revived to maintain the security policy instigated by the Olympic games and mass arrests of youth become more common, even though the overwhelming numbers of people arrested were never charged. Citizen complaints against police brutality increased 33 percent in the period 1984 to 1989.[2]

    According to the LA Times, August 1, 1988 featured a large-scale raid by 88 LAPD officers on “two apartment buildings on the corner of 39th Street and Dalton Avenue … It was an all-out search for drugs and a massive show of force designed to deliver a strong message to the gangs.” Police caused massive property damage (including smashed furniture, holes punched in walls, and destruction of family photos) and sprayed graffiti messages such as “LAPD Rules” and “Rollin’ 30s Die.” In addition, “Dozens of residents from the apartments and surrounding neighborhood were rounded up. Many were humiliated or beaten, but none was charged with a crime. The raid netted fewer than six ounces of marijuana and less than an ounce of cocaine.” In 2001, Officer Todd Parrick said in retrospect, “We weren’t just searching for drugs. We were delivering a message that there was a price to pay for selling drugs and being a gang member.”[3]

    By 1990 over 50,000 people had been arrested in raids.[4] During this period, the LAPD arrested more young black men and women at any period of time since the Watts Riot of 1965. Despite the large number of arrests, in April 1988, there were only 60 felony arrests, and charges were only filed in 32 instances.[5] Disputing that figure, Chief Gates has said that charges were filed on 70% of the suspects arrested.

    Critics have alleged that the operation was racist because it heavily employed racial profiling, targeting African-American and Hispanic youths.[6] The perception that police had targeted non-Caucasian citizens likely contributed to the anger which, after the assault of motorist Rodney King, would erupt into the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[7]

  2. vile

    not just the LAPD. It’s everywhere.

    This morning Texas law jockeys executed a man who several days ago had the effrontery to use his eyeglasses to stab a couple of cops and thereby effect an escape.

    This man was not armed when they found him. But they executed him anyway. http://www.reuters.com/article…

    It used to be law jockeys would at least deploy a “throw-down gun” when they executed someone. Today, they don’t even bother. Because the people let them get away with it. Uniforms uber alles.

    These days, if you disrespect a law jockey, you will simply be executed. The law jockeys have short-circuited the criminal-justice system. In the world according to them, there is no need for such quaint relicts as arrests, or trials. They will just kill you. Because they know best.

  4. Avila

    Adept, for this incredible post.  it’s exactly the kind of between the lines information that traditional media is avoiding, and its absence is glaring.  i appreciate knowing the other side of the story.

  5. Avila

    a more perfect grace note, i can’t imagine.

    police work is all about otherizing, and too often the line is crossed into dehumanization.  of course, we like to believe that human beings are able to compartmentalize seamlessly, but we aren’t machines.  thank you for telling us the other sides of this story.

  7. Avila

    i’ve been thinking about how utterly broken our justice system is.  that might be a subject for a diary?  i don’t think anyone is served well, and most aren’t served at all.

  8. Chris Blask

    There is a mountain of conspiracy theory surrounding how he met his final end, but I’m not interested in any of that, because I read the manifesto and Christopher Dorner got exactly what he wanted.  In my belief system he is somewhere that his name surely got judged, and in my opinion he’s not enjoying the verdict.

    That’s a good caveat. It nevertheless remains fraught with danger, IMO, to connect the name “Dorner” with the issues of discrimination in police forces. I have serious doubts how much good can come of such framing, no matter how tempting it may be.

    A similar enough example is the post-9/11 case of Bill Maher, who caused outroar with his comments about the hijackers not being “cowards”. True enough by some definition, perhaps, but sometimes the optics of commentary are more important than the content. Maher, if I recall, caveated pretty heavily but the optics of that one statement nevertheless overwhelmed everything else.

    I hope the issue of police over-reach, outright discrimination and/or corruption can continue to be addressed, however that can be done. But I remain skeptical that any conversation that starts with a “Dorner was wrong, [but he had a point]…” caveat will be anything other than counterproductive in the end.

  9. DeniseVelez

    I guess because of Dorner, I’ve been thinking a lot about black cops, and their history. I know very little about the LAPD (other than the negatives) but was an eyewitness to NYPD “integration”, problems that black cops had – the formation of several groups to represent black cops, friendship with the most militant one – Lenny Weir (12X), and observed a great program put into effect briefly in Harlem by Eldridge Waith, who became an Asst. Chief Inspector, but was a Captain when I first met him (we all had a lot of respect for the brother)

    That program was the Preventative Patrol Program (PEP)which ex-officer Bennett Hinds has written about

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new…  

    In 2010, Bennett Hinds saw flashing police lights coming from behind his red Honda on W. 97th St.

    “Suddenly I had three 9-mm. handguns pointed at me,” he tells me. “Three plainclothes cops, including a female, were screaming at me to ‘Get out of the f—— car.’ They searched my whole car, screaming, ‘Where’s the f—— drugs?'”

    Only after they handcuffed him did they learn that Hinds was a retired police officer, once a member of an elite all-minority NYPD unit called The PEP Squad.

    Lenny Weir, founder of the National Society of Afro-American Policemen was a hero to many of us who were activists – the NYPD tried their best to get rid of him 🙂

    http://books.google.com/books?…

    These musing really don’t have anything to do directly with Dorner, but after reading your post, it really made me think of the conditions black cops have to live with.  

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