Councilman Alleges Racism, Takes Stress Leave From LAPD

Inglewood City Councilman Garland Hardeman, a Los Angeles police officer who claims he is a victim of racial harassment in the department, said Thursday that he has been on temporary stress disability leave since discovering a chalk drawing of a body outside his police locker last month.

Hardeman, who is black, said stress from the Jan. 20 incident--it happened on Martin Luther King Jr. Day--has aggravated previous on-the-job hand and back injuries. He is undergoing therapy and seeing a physician. He said he has no plans to return to his job as a patrolman in the department’s Southwest Division unless conditions drastically improve in the LAPD. For example, he wants the department to more actively promote minority officers and to more actively investigate complaints of racial harassment.

“I feel uncomfortable going back because of the drawing and other intimidating and harassing acts,” Hardeman said. “If there were substantial changes in the department under a new chief, I would give consideration to returning.”

Hardeman, 35, acknowledged that he is a controversial figure in the LAPD because he has been outspoken about what he views as racism among white officers. The 10-year police veteran testified before the Christopher Commission, which was formed after the March 3, 1991, beating of Rodney G. King.

When he got to work about 6 a.m. on the King holiday, Hardeman discovered a chalk figure, similar to the ones drawn around the bodies of murder victims, on the floor in front of his locker. On the figure’s head were two X marks, indicating where a victim had been shot.

It was not the first time that Hardeman has claimed harassment by his fellow officers.

In 1989, shortly after former Long Beach Officer Don Jackson cooperated with a news crew in an effort to illustrate racism in that department, a photograph of Jackson appeared on an LAPD bulletin board with a bloody arrow drawn on the head. Hardeman, who supported Jackson, found his name and Jackson’s scrawled on the photo.

Hardeman said he is considering applying for permanent disability retirement from the LAPD, which would make him eligible for a pension ranging from one-third to 90% of his current salary.

Hardeman, who was elected to a second term on the City Council last April, has continued to attend council meetings and to conduct city business, he said.