Black Lawmen Decry Warner Boycott : Rap flap: Officials of the National Black Police Assn. say none of its 35,000 members would participate.

The National Black Police Assn. entered the fray over rapper Ice-T’s controversial “Cop Killer” song on Tuesday, denouncing the actions of law enforcement groups that have called for a boycott of the rapper’s record label and parent company, Time Warner Inc.

“We would hope that professional police organizations would focus more on the real roots of the unprecedented violence plaguing our communities,” said Sgt. Preston Gilstrap, information officer for the 8,000-member, Grand Prairie, Tex.-based Southern Region chapter of the black police group.

“Our organization abhors violence of any kind, but we also realize that there are personal freedoms and rights that must be protected. A main concern of ours in addressing this issue is that our kids enjoy listening to rap music. Whether it’s Ice-T or Public Enemy or N.W.A., this music is a part of their lives.”

Officials at the Washington-based National Black Police Assn.--the only police group that denounced the Rodney G. King verdict, calling it a “miscarriage of justice”--confirmed Tuesday that none of the organization’s 35,000 members would participate in any boycott of Time Warner.

Los Angeles rapper Ice-T, who played a policeman in the movie “New Jack City” and stars as a gangster in an upcoming film originally titled “Looters” (Universal announced after the riots that it intends to change the name) was not available for comment, but is scheduled to deliver a speech on the matter Thursday at the New Music Seminar in New York.

Officials at Warner Bros. Records and Time Warner also declined to comment.

“Cop Killer” is contained on Ice-T’s rap-metal album “Body Count,” and includes such lyrics as:

I got my 12-gauge sawed off

I got my headlights turned off

I’m ‘bout to bust some shots off

I’m ‘bout to dust some cops off.

The controversy began June 10 when the Combined Law Enforcement Assn. of Texas (CLEAT) called for a boycott of Time Warner Inc., the album’s distributor, and threatened to stage a protest at the company’s July 16 annual shareholders meeting in Beverly Hills unless Time Warner disassociates itself from the song and apologizes to officers nationwide.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, a Republican candidate in the upcoming election for a seat in the 36th Congressional District, introduced a motion in the City Council on Friday requesting that the media conglomerate stop selling Ice-T’s record and also asking all radio stations in Los Angeles to ban the song.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League and the Fraternal Order of Police on Monday joined Milke, CLEAT and the National Rifle Assn. in calling for Time Warner Inc. to voluntarily stop distribution of the “offensive” song.

However, Calvin J. Howard, chairman of the Southern Region of the National Black Police Assn., said Tuesday that the black officers his group represents are not offended by “Cop Killer.”

“Many individuals of the law enforcement profession do not want anyone to scrutinize their actions, but want to scrutinize the actions of others,” Howard said. “With stronger independent civilian review boards across the country to scrutinize the actions of our law enforcement officers, many cities would have less Rodney King incidents and such rap artists as Ice-T would not have to respond to actions of police brutality and abuse through their music.”