Police Brutality

I am a criminal defense attorney. The thing I find most interesting about the news accounts of the Los Angeles Police Department beating of Rodney King is the perception that this is an isolated situation and that LAPD is the only agency responsible for this behavior. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

“Pay-back” beatings, especially after high-speed chases are the rule, not the exception. The methods used range from batons, to gun butts, to chokeholds, to malicious use of K-9 units.

However, unlike this latest incident, usually there is no videotape, often there are no independent witnesses or witnesses are afraid to speak out, and many times the attacked party has charges filed against him or her so as to justify the violence.

Other types of violence occur at the hands of LAPD, the Sheriff’s Department and local law agencies. There are small beatings that occur when a person is stopped and dares to question the officer’s reasons or authority for doing so. There are cases where police dog handlers let the dogs chew up a detainee before they are called off. There are jailhouse beatings inflicted when an arrestee is too unruly or needs an “attitude adjustment.” Finally, there are some cases of unjustified police shootings.

That is not to say that there aren’t good officers. There are. Certainly, many beating recipients are guilty of their own wrongdoings. We also know that officers are sometimes recipients of unprovoked attacks. However, violence in our society, police-inflicted or otherwise, is not infrequent or isolated.

At this time, we live in an extremely violent society. We need to re-sensitize ourselves to the damaging effects and consequences of violence. And, no one, not even the police, should be considered above the law or outside the law.

CAROLE TELFER

Downey