Fighting Crime--and Comrades

Police work is dangerous, and the hours are nothing to brag about. The job can be even more unpleasant for women or minority officers, as Times staff writer David Freed has documented, because of lingering prejudices reminiscent of the attitudes that prevailed when the Los Angeles Police Department was mostly white and male.

A federal lawsuit, settled five years ago, required the department to improve its hiring record, although the consent decree did not cover Asian officers. At that time the 6,500-member force included 709 Latino, 449 black and 171 women officers. Today the 7,000-member force has 1,045 Latino, 775 black and 556 women officers in its ranks.

The consent decree was supposed to poke holes in the barriers that prevented women from rising above the rank of sergeant and that blocked most minority male officers from the best jobs. But, despite some promotions, women and minority officers are woefully underrepresented in the upper echelon and prestige assignments.

Thus many new minority and women officers must fight not only crime but also resentment from an “old boy” system. They must prove that they wear a badge on merit, not because of lowered standards. They must tolerate ethnic and racial insults directed both at them and at suspects. Hired to protect the public, they must often protect themselves as well, from fellow officers who want them to fail.

This adds up to conduct unbecoming our officers, no matter how seemingly innocent, and it warrants more attention from Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who knew even worse discrimination when he served on the police force 25 years ago. A lack of professionalism, even when dismissed as humor or horseplay, deserves more scrutiny by the Police Commission--the citizen board that has forcefully reshaped department policy and is already studying the lack of advancement by Latino officers.

Chief Daryl F. Gates advocates fair treatment, but he has had lapses. In 1982, when the department was criticized for using a chokehold that had proved fatal, the chief speculated that the arteries of some black people may not reopen as fast as those “on normal people.” More recently he reminded veteran officers that they, too, were once new, and admonished them to treat all newcomers accordingly. He must say that more often.

A pep talk is also in order for the women and minority officers who have become discouraged or hypersensitive or are tempted to give up. They know that the road to change is not easily traveled, but they need reminding that their perseverance will pay off for them, for future generations and for the city.

Los Angeles, an increasingly diverse city, needs a police force that can respond, effectively and respectfully, to that diversity. Being a big-city cop will never be easy, but officers who feel no need to protect themselves from their comrades can better protect and serve the public.