Inglewood Police Don’t Have Racial Problems

I was astonished to read in the July 21 South Bay edition of The Times a quote attributed to me regarding the Christopher Commission Report and its impact on South Bay police agencies.

The article indicated that I made statements regarding a controversy brewing over racist jokes in the Inglewood Police Department. The article also inferred that I had knowledge of an in-house cultural awareness program in process in the Inglewood Police Department to combat the problem.

First of all, I was never contacted regarding any concerns involving the Inglewood Police Department. I know of no racial problem involving the Inglewood Police Department, and I know of no cultural awareness training being conducted by the Inglewood Police Department.

From personal experience, I know that the Inglewood Police Department is excellently trained, well disciplined and has not experienced the internal racial strife that some agencies have.

When I became chief of the Inglewood Police Department in 1981, the city manager mandated that one of my goals was affirmative action and to increase the number of black and Hispanic officers in the department. Within one year we increased that representation from 12% to 30% and that percentage is perhaps even higher today. Race relations was not a problem during my tenure as police chief and I know of nothing to the contrary at this time.

JOSEPH T. ROUZAN JR., Retired Inglewood police chief, President, Inglewood Unified, School District Board of Trustees