40 on 40

If "Special Order 40" sounds vaguely like a term from a spy or science fiction thriller, that's in keeping with the surreal conversation that is raging around the 1979 Los Angeles Police Department rule. Specifically, the order has figured centrally in discussions of the murder of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw, allegedly at the hands of 19-year-old illegal immigrant Pedro Espinoza. As LAPD Chief William Bratton noted recently, much of this conversation has been disconnected from the reality of the order, which governs how officers deal with undocumented immigrants and did not factor into the case at hand.

April 21, 2008