Some Lessons to Ease Police-Latino Relations : Ramona Gardens shooting puts Sheriff’s Dept. in spotlight

The death of Arturo Jimenez, a 19-year-old Latino shot by a sheriff’s deputy at the gang-riddled Ramona Gardens housing project, has galvanized deep concerns about how the Sheriff’s Department polices the predominantly Latino and working-class neighborhoods of East Los Angeles.

The Aug. 3 shooting has caused festering tensions similar to those generated in black neighborhoods by the videotaped police beating of Rodney King. Although there is no strict parallel in the two cases, there are common issues stemming from how law enforcement agencies police minorities.

The Christopher Commission addressed those issues with specific recommendations for the Los Angeles Police Department. Many of those recommendations could also prove helpful for the Sheriff’s Department and its relations with the county’s large and growing Latino population.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block has already ordered a departmental analysis of the Christopher Commission report to determine which recommendations are applicable.

Block has also used testimony given before the commission as a basis for improving the handling of citizen complaints in his department.

In the tense aftermath of the Ramona Gardens shooting, Block’s team should pay close attention to the recommendations about community-based policing, greater command accountability, tougher penalties for conduct colored by prejudice, improved human relations and Spanish-language training for new recruits.

A MENTALITY?: Community policing emphasizes crime prevention over confrontation and a reduction of the “us against them” mentality. This style of law enforcement relies on officers who get out of their cars and frequently interact with the people they police. It also encourages greater community involvement with officers and deputies.

The commission put police on notice, particularly ranking officers, that they are responsible for those they lead. After finding that a group of “bad cops” is disproportionately responsible for complaints involving excessive force, the commission recommended that the LAPD leadership use training, discipline, assignments and promotion to take a firm stand against those problem officers. The commission also found “the problem of excessive force is aggravated by racism and bias within the LAPD.”

The commission’s report was not about the Sheriff’s Department, of course. In fact, the commissioners heard testimony that praised the department’s policy toward officer- involved shootings. And, regarding racial and ethnic prejudice, a random review of transmissions between deputies did not uncover the offensive remarks that were found repeatedly in LAPD communications.

A POSSIBILITY?: But increased attention to the possibility of conduct colored by prejudice is especially crucial now. According to 1990 census figures, Latinos make up 37.8% of the county population, a number expected to grow because of a high birthrate, immigration and migration from other states.

The increasing diversity in the county should prompt the sheriff to ask hard questions. Do some deputies automatically assume that Latino youngsters who live in poor communities are gang members? Do some deputies use a more provocative or rude style of policing when they are dealing with people in housing projects?

Such questions are not, strictly speaking, the franchise of ongoing investigations by the district attorney and the Sheriff’s Department into the shooting of Jimenez. But they are questions that someone should ask. The Christopher Commission’s recommendations hardly provide answers to everything. But as a starting point, the commission’s overall advice is hard to beat.