LAPD Seeks Source of Racially Offensive Remark Sent on Police Radio Frequency

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating whether one of its officers, or someone outside the agency, broadcast a racial epithet over police radio airwaves while describing a black suspect fleeing a robbery.

The remark was recorded by the LAPD’s Communications Division early Monday afternoon, as patrol officers searched for a robber near Washington Boulevard and Main Street, south of downtown Los Angeles.

According to a civilian employee who works in the division but did not want to be named, a voice on the tape is heard saying: “The suspect is a nigger.”

The division’s watch commander, Sgt. Larry Moore, confirmed the remark.

There were conflicting reports Wednesday as to whether the comment was made by a LAPD officer. Police Commission President Stanley Sheinbaum said that he was informed of the remark by Acting Chief Robert Vernon, and that Vernon told him an officer was responsible.

“My understanding is that it is an officer,” Sheinbaum said.

However, department spokesman Lt. Fred Nixon said the person making the offensive remark may not have been with the LAPD.

“We are conducting an investigation regarding an inappropriate remark that was transmitted during an incident this past Monday,” Nixon said. “There is nothing at this time, though, that suggests to us that it was a member of this department that made the transmission. There are several things that suggest to us that it was not a member of this department.”

Nixon said the “Tactical One” frequency over which the remark was broadcast is used by other law enforcement agencies and private citizens.

“We are currently conducting an investigation and we will go where the findings take us,” Nixon said. He refused to disclose the contents of the remark.

Moore said he initiated a preliminary investigation after a dispatcher complained about the comment. He said his probe is continuing, and that he has not discovered who made the remark. Depending on his findings, the matter may be referred to the LAPD Internal Affairs Division.

“There are a number of people who use our radio,” Moore said. “We do not know if the person was a member of our department. That’s all I have to say about it.”

Word of the investigation comes a month after the Christopher Commission harshly criticized the department for failing to crack down on racist and sexist remarks made by officers sending electronic messages on their patrol car computers.

In the wake of the commission’s report, LAPD internal affairs investigators have begun interviewing dozens of patrol officers who allegedly sent the computer messages. On Wednesday, two top officials said the department was likely to recommend disciplinary action against some officers, but that abuse of the Mobile Digital Terminal computers was not as widespread as the Christopher panel believed.

“There were some messages that were not as they would appear,” said Cmdr. Rick Dinse.

Dinse said some messages simply reflected Police Department “vernacular.” For instance, he said, a message that instructed an officer to “kick” a suspect actually meant that the suspect was supposed to be released.

The racially offensive remark broadcast Monday, however, hit a raw nerve among some in the department, especially in light of the commission report. The comment could have been heard by any number of officers or civilians who monitor the Tactical One frequency.

Sgt. John Emerson, the assistant watch commander in the Communications Division, said the more than 400 employees in the division--most of whom are civilians--have been notified of the investigation during roll calls this week.

“We told our people that it happened and it’s being investigated,” Emerson said. He added that several civilian employees expressed concern that an officer would make improper comments, and said it is possible that the remark violated Federal Communication Commission regulations, as well as department policy.

“If someone here said something like (that), we’d be all over them and they know it,” he said. “Their concern, and I think it would be a legitimate concern, is that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

The civilian employee who listened to the tape said she and her colleagues “hoped that something would be done about it, because it was a disparaging remark and a lot of the people who work in communications happen to be black or minorities.”

“It’s an offensive thing to hear, especially when you’re working for an organization that is supposed to be professional and in light of all the things that have been going on,” said the employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officers at the department’s Newton Division, citing the pending investigation, declined to disclose details of the robbery.