Amnesty International Probe of Brutality to Focus on Its Extent

A team of investigators from Amnesty International on Monday began a weeklong probe to gauge whether there is rampant brutality in the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s departments.

“Nobody can deny police brutality has taken place. . . . We are here to see if it is widespread or systematic,” Anita Tiessen, one of three investigators from the London-based human rights organization, said at a briefing that preceded the group’s first day of inquiry.

The day ended with a private two-hour meeting between Amnesty officials and Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who pledged cooperation with the group but was cool toward its mission. When a reporter remarked that Amnesty is best known for investigating cases of political persecution and torture in foreign governments, Gates called it “outrageous” to suggest that the Police Department should warrant similar attention from the organization.

Nevertheless, Gates acknowledged that the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney G. King had inevitably drawn attention to the department. “Let’s face it, the Rodney King thing has gone international,” Gates said, adding that he would work with Amnesty investigators to convince them of the department’s professional conduct.

“This department is known for its openness and I want the international community to recognize the Los Angeles Police Department for what it is--a very fine department,” Gates said. “This is not a racist department. This is not a brutal department.”

The inquiry, Amnesty’s Tiessen said, was authorized by Amnesty’s top officials in May after it received complaints about alleged brutality involving sheriff’s deputies and then was deluged with “scores” of allegations of police misconduct in the wake of the videotaped beating of King by Los Angeles police officers.

Without citing cases, Tiessen said Amnesty officials were so overwhelmed with stories of local police brutality after the King beating that they concluded that an investigation was warranted.

“There comes a point when the allegations, in terms of numbers or in terms of severity, are substantial enough, that you think there is something to be gained by going” to a city for investigation, Tiessen said.

“Was there one case that brought us here? No. Because we are not looking at simply one case. We are looking at what could be a pattern . . . and that is really the issue,” she said.

Tiessen of Canada and the other Amnesty investigators--Angela Wright and Rod Morgan, both of England--arrived in Los Angeles late Saturday and began their first day of investigation with a three-hour meeting with the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU, which has led the charge for reforms within the Los Angeles Police Department, is among several civil rights groups that Amnesty officials decided to contact, Tiessen said. Another is Police Watch, a nonprofit attorney referral group previously known as the Police Misconduct Lawyers Referral Service.

After the meeting, ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston said she was “impressed” with how much research Amnesty’s investigators have done on longstanding allegations of police misconduct and brutality in Los Angeles. The group, she said, was not only familiar with the recent Christopher Commission report spawned by the King beating, but had questions about police reforms dating back to the 1979 shooting of Eula Love, whose killing by two LAPD officers led to new policies on the use of deadly force.

“I’m glad they’re here,” Ripston said. “I think the fact that we have the kind of problem with law enforcement that engenders the interest of Amnesty International will come as a surprise to a lot of people.”

In addition to meeting with attorneys and civil rights groups, Amnesty investigators have scheduled meetings with law enforcement officials such as Gates to examine departmental training and procedures for investigating claims of police brutality. A similar meeting is planned with Sheriff Sherman Block, who also has pledged full cooperation with the inquiry.

In launching their investigation, Amnesty officials emphasized that their inquiry, while unusual in a U.S. city, was far from unprecedented. In January, Amnesty urged authorities to investigate Chicago police after reviewing allegations that officers there tortured arrestees, sometimes to coerce confessions. Currently, Tiessen added, the organization is planning investigations of alleged brutality by police agencies in New York, Connecticut and Texas.

Noting Amnesty’s investigations in those cities and others worldwide, Tiessen repeatedly refused to draw any conclusions or comparisons about the extent of police brutality in Los Angeles. “I don’t think the arrival of an Amnesty International investigation team can be seen to say, ‘This is the worst city,’ that officials are not competent to deal with it (police misconduct).

“The reason we are here is because we think there is a human rights issue here. We want to investigate it. We want to see what steps can be taken to deal with it. And that’s the long and the short of it,” Tiessen said.

The group is scheduled to leave Los Angeles on Saturday. A report on its findings, Tiessen said, will probably not be released for months.